Risky Business: Extreme sports

At first, I chose this sport because the name caught my attention and I had never heard about it. Also, all the other sports made me uncomfortable because there were too many risks or simply heights involved. However, when I started my research about Zorbing, I was very curious about how it worked out. Zorbing is an extreme sport of rolling downhill in an orb. There are two types of orbs, harnessed and non-harnessed. The first is constructed for a maximum of three riders, while the second one carries up to one or two riders. 

As I said before, Zorbing is usually practiced downhill, but it also can be done on a level surface, which gives the rider more control. Sometimes ramps are built, when there is an absence of hill, inflatable, wooden or metal ramps. 

It seems to me to be a very exciting sport and not dangerous after all. I would love to try it out someday. I just need to find a hill...

Zorbing in Pigeon Forge in Tennessee:

A free press in a free world!

"Free press usually means the right to publish, a right to confidentiality of sources, and a right to access."*

Freedom of the press is directly related to vehicles of media and published materials, where the freedom of communcation and expression is essential. Freedom is considered the absence of any kind of interference from the state. However, it is not only an individual liberty, but also an institutional one. It shows that despite the fact that State organizations should interfere, they have an obligation to protect this freedom.

Sir William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765):
"Where blasphemous, immoral, treasonable, schismatical, seditious, or scandalous libels are punished by English law … the liberty of the press, properly understood, is by no means infringed or violated. The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature of a free state; but this consists in laying no previous restraints upon publication, and not in freedom from censure for criminal matter when published. Every freeman has undoubted right to lay what sentiments he pleases before the public; to forbid this is to destroy the freedom of the press: but if he publishes what is improper, mischievous, or illegal, he must take the consequences of his own temerity."

On Sunday, June 18, 1972, a small headline in the Washington Post said: "Five Held in Plot to Bug Democratic Offices Here". This entry told a story about a break-in inside the offices of the Democratic National Committe in the Watergate office complex in Washington. What may sound normal intrigued two young reporters, Carl Bernestein and Bob Woodward.

Right from the start, Woodward's notes shows that "police sources [said] that the men came from Miami, wore surgical gloves and carried thousands of dollars in cash. It was, said one source, 'a professional type operation.'"** Also, it was learned that the grand jury had sought testimony from two men who had worked in the Nixon White House, former CIA officer and former FBI agent.

After following the money leads and hearing unidentified sources, they were able to write an article that led to the first resignation of a U.S. President. The whole break-in was a plan to sabotage the Democratic's campaign, which President Nixon was full aware of.

Video:
"Former White House counsel John Dean tells the story to the Senate Watergate Committee, June 25, 1973."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/06/14/VI2007061401055.html

The question that remains about the Watergate scandal is: "What would have happened if there had not been a free press in the US?". The answer is simple: the population would never have discovered what Nixon's intentions were and what he was able to do as a President of the United States of America to get what he wanted.

In Brazil, the most important media is television. The private sector owns the majority of this media landscape, while a public broadcasting company is struggling to gain popularity but gets some criticism due to its close ties with the government.

Print media is still not very popular. Considering a current population of 190 million people, we have a small amount of newspaper circulation, only 8.4 copies per day nationally.

Also, internet and mobile phones should be considered. “According to Ibope figures, in 2008, there were 63.2 million people aged 16 or older who had access to the internet. […] And the Brazilian Agency for Telecommunications estimate that there are 91.9 cellphones for every 100 inhabitants”.

Concerning media ownership, some legal issues still remain. “The case of José Sarney against O Estado de S. Paulo has not been solved yet and its ending may influence the course of similar cases in Brazil, potentially posing a threat to freedom of press in the country”.***

José Sarney is a Brazilian politician. He supported the "Revolution of 1964", a military coup which resulted in a military junta which ruled the country for 20 years. In April 1985, Sarney became President of the country after the elected Tancredo Neves died before being able to take office.  

The newspaper The Economist publish a story called “Where dinosaurs still roam”:
"Mr Sarney may look like a throwback to an era of semi-feudal politics that still prevail in corners of Brazil and hold the rest of it back. But with the tacit support of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the country’s left-of-centre President, he was this week chosen to preside over the Senate. It is the third time in his career that he has held this powerful job, which confers a degree of control over the government’s agenda and opportunities for patronage".****

In conclusion, it is simple to say that free press is a right of the population and it has to be taken care of. There is a saying: "don't believe in everything that you read", but if a population is unable to research things on their own, they need to be able to rely on media landscapes. For that reason, a media without government interference is essencial.


Bibliography:
*http://faculty.ncwc.edu/mstevens/410/410lect09.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_press
**http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/
***http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/Media_Landscapes/Brazil.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Sarney
****http://www.economist.com/node/13062220

A Day in the life of Luisa

My name is Luisa and I'm 20 years old and I would like to share my thoughts about my experience studying aboard. I started thinking about doing it since I was 16 years old, in High School, when all of my friends started coming back from their visits overseas.
In 2008, I went to Montreal, Quebec, to study English for three weeks. However, I had to leave my boyfriend in Brazil, which made me sad enough to enjoy next to nothing during my time there. In time, I had to face the music and realize that it was only my fault that I didn't put any effort into liking it.
In my time as a college student, I met a lot of friends who did a study aboard and years after they came back, they still missed it. So, the idea came to me again. At first, I was dragging my feet because my time in Canada wasn't very pleasent for me. But, it also made me realize that I needed new experiences.
My best friend, Giovanna, always told me to keep my chin up when I began to be afraid of coming to New York City. I'm so thankful to her. She never let me forget that with everything else in my life, I always let my hair down with no worries or fears. "Why should this experience be different?", she said.
And she was right. Everything here is amazing. I made a lot of friends that I will keep in my heart for life. I even met my boyfriend here. I'm learning a lot in my International Affairs class, also my General English class. I got my first internship in a company called Be&D. Everything has exceeded my expectations. And American food is 'finger lickin' good'!


Dictionary:
1. A bad-mouth somebody:
to say unpleasant things about someone or something, especially in order to spoil other people's opinions of them.

2. 'Break a leg!':
good luck in a theatrical way.

3. To drag one's feet:
to deal with something slowly because you do not really want to do it.

4. To get out of hand:
it cannot be controlled any more.

5. To face the music:
to accept responsibility for something you have done.

6. 'Finger lickin' good':
excellent food.

7. To keep your chin up:

remain cheerful in a difficult situation.

8. To let your hair down:
behave in a free or uninhibited manner.

9. To learn STG by heart:
to learn something so well that it can be written or recited without thinking; to memorize something.

10. To get off on the wrong foot:

make a bad start.

Titanic 100th Anniversary

All over the world people have listened or watched about the big and disastrous Titanic. It was built in Belfast, Ireland. Harland and Wolff were the owners of the White Star Line shipping company which commissioned the construction of the Titanic, one of the three transatlantic 'Olympic class' liners.
Construction started on 31 March 1909 and it took more than 4,000 people and three years to finish it.
The finished ship was an achievement of Edwardian engineering, measuring 886ft.



On April 10 1912, the Titanic set off from Southampton across the north Atlantic towards New York. "She was impressive, boasting four towering funnels, triple propellers and 11 decks. More than 600 tonnes of coal a day were needed to propel the ship, with  more than 150 stokers working below, day and night, to keep Titanic's 29 boilers steaming". (IrisPictureLibrary/FatherBrowneSJCollection).

The ship carried 2,224 passengers and crew, from millionaires, to teachers and emigrants. Just over 700 escaped and made it to New York.

On Sunday 14 April, as the Titanic was sailing on a clear night over a calm sea. At 23:40 the bell tolled three times and lookout Frederick Fleet cried: "Iceberg, right ahead". Seconds later the ship hit the iceberg. By midnight, water was already flooding into third-class sections. However, many passengers were reluctant to go out on deck, as Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats to be launched. It was hard to believe that the ship which was unsinkable would go down before another boat came to its rescue.

There was only space to save 1,178 people on Titanic, with only 20 lifeboats on board. Women and children went first, but many of the life boats were launched only half full, while many third-class passengers remained trapped inside the ship.

Everyone hears how nobel it is for a Captain to go down with his ship and it was exactly what happened with Captain Smith. However, his story is not that good. He failed the passengers and crew of the Titanic, because "He failed to heed ice warnings, did not slow his ship when ice was reported directly in his path and allowed lifeboats to leave the sinking ship partially filled, unnecessarily adding at least 500 names to the list of the dead". The first lifeboat to launch, with a capacity for 40, contained just 12 people.


Captain Smith

The last lifeboat was lowered from the ship just after 2 am. Captain Edward Smith released his staff with the words: "every man for himself". He returned to the bridge and prepared to go down with his ship.

Even though S.O.S. messages were sent, the nearest ship that answered their calls was the Carpathia, which was four hours away.

With all the hard work with the construction, the myths surrounding the captain and other passagers about cowardly acts and the horror from the 2 hours and 40 minutes that the Titanic took to sink entirely, there is a love story that is always remembered, that of Isidor Straus and his wife, Ida.
"On the night of the disaster, as the call to board the lifeboats went out, Isidor escorted Ida to Lifeboat 8 and prepared to say goodbye to her. Ida, however, refused to enter the small boat, saying, “We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go.” Several other first- class passengers tried to convince Ida to board but she could not be swayed. Instead, she sent her newly employed maid, Ellen Bird, in her place, after first wrapping her in a fur as protection against the cold. The Strauses were last seen seated side by side on Titanic’s Boat Deck.

Isidor’s body was recovered by the Mackay-Bennett. A funereal service for Isidor was delayed for a few days in the hopes that Ida’s body might too be recovered, allowing the two who had lived and died together to also share a funeral—but Ida’s body was never found".

(By: http://www.rmstitanic.net/community/blog/241-isidor-ida-straus-name-of-love.html)

On this article, in the BBC website, it shows an image of how the Titanic sank in 2 hours and 40 minutes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17511820

On this offical website dedicated to the RMS Titanic, it shows how the ship looks like deep down on the sea bed.

http://www.rmstitanic.net/expedition/#/explore/deeper-look

It's been 100 years since the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank into icy waters off the coast of Canada. Now, she  lies some four kilometers under the surface of the North Atlantic. And people often question themselfs: "Why is The Titanic disaster so popular?". The answer is as simple as the question. A perfect focus on the supreme choices of individual lives. 

The crew and the passagers dind't had much time to think about consequences. That they had time to think was: the ship was saking, there wasn't going to be room from everybody to be saved and everybody wanted a spot on the lifeboats. After the disaster people were questioned of why they were the one that survived when many other didn't even got the chance.

Bibliographical references:

http://backstory.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/09/preserving-titanic-history/?iref=allsearch

 http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/06/opinion/cox-titanic/index.html?iref=allsearch
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17599053

http://www.rmstitanic.net/community/blog/241-isidor-ida-straus-name-of-love.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/titanic_01.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17511820

http://www.rmstitanic.net/expedition/#/explore/deeper-look

The Amazon

The Amazon, also known as Rainforest, is located in South America. It covers nine nations: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. This biome is the largest tropical rain forest and river basin and it has an incomparable biodiversity, where the quantity of different plant species is the largest on Earth. To illustrate what I just stated, one in ten known species on Earth exists in the Amazon, a region comprising 1.4 billion acres of dense forests, half of the planet’s remaining tropical forests, 4,100 miles of winding rivers and 2.6 million square miles of land, which represents 40 percent of South America.
Despite the fact that these statistics are recognized worldwide, deforestation is the biggest problem in the region. Trees have been torn down in the search for short term benefits. Extensive cattle ranching and agricultural expansion also contribute to this problem. A poorly planned infrastructure and the illegal and unsustainable extraction of natural resources, as well as climate change, make the situation even worse. Also, according to the WWF website: "At current deforestation rates, 55% of the Amazon's rainforests could be gone by 2030".
People think that the complaints about deforestation are only releated to the thousands of species that could be lost, they often forget that the Amazon is also home to 33 million people, including 1.6 million indigenous people from 370 ethnic groups. These people depend on the Amazon to provide their food, shelter and medicines. Most importantly, the region of the Amazon is fundamental to maintain global climate balance and directly influences the rainfall patterns in Brazil and the rest of South America.
I'm very proud to say that this amazing forest covers 49% of my country, Brazil. However, at the same time, I'm ashamed to say that there are many people who don't value it properly. And that's why 26.000 km are destroyed every year.


Photos:












References:
http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherewework/amazon/index.html

Natural Disaster - Floods in Rio de Janeiro

According to the National Geographic website: "A flood occurs when water overflows or inundates land that's normally dry. This can happen in a multitude of ways. Most common is when rivers or streams overflow their banks. Excessive rain, a ruptured dam or levee, rapid ice melting in the mountains, or even an unfortunately placed beaver dam can overwhelm a river and send it spreading over the adjacent land, called a floodplain. Coastal flooding occurs when a large storm or tsunami causes the sea to surge inland. [...]
When floodwaters recede, affected areas are often blanketed in silt and mud. The water and landscape can be contaminated with hazardous materials, such as sharp debris, pesticides, fuel, and untreated sewage. Potentially dangerous mold blooms can quickly overwhelm water-soaked structures. Residents of flooded areas can be left without power and clean drinking water, leading to outbreaks of deadly waterborne diseases like typhoid, hepatitis A, and cholera."

In 2011, a series of floods and mudslides took place in the Mountainous Region (Região Serrana) of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This disaster happened in the cities Nova Friburgo, Teresopolis, Petropolis, Sumidouro and Sao Jose do Vale do Rio Preto.
Due to the quantity of rain between the 11 and 12 January 2011 (more than expected for the entire month), the consequences were disastrous floods, mudslides and landslides. 
However, many described it as being more man-made than natural. This was because of poor development decisions, such as building on insecure ground. In addition to this, a lack of disaster planning was also a factor.

The governmente response came when president Dilma Rousseff declared an emergency budget of R$ 780 million (US$ 466.2 million) to be made available for reconstruction work, such as  federal assistance in machinery, helicopters and manpower, as requested by the governor Luis Fernando Pezao.

The obvious consequences of this major disaster in Brazil were the loss of 905 people and the 35 thousand who became homeless, according to Civil Defense authorities. Power and telephone lines were down in the three towns, and there was no drinking water. There was also a serious impact on industry, agriculture, livestock, trade, tourism and service providers.
Also, cases of leptospirosis* were reported in Nova Friburgo and Teresopolis.

This was the worst weather-related disaster in Brazil's history.
Photos:











Bibliographical references:
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/floods-profile