Interesting Facts

1. Mohammad Khatami, a previous leader, let women go skiing without the normal gender barriers. Women were allowed to wear ski attire rather what all women were supposed to wear. They were also let on ski lifts and gondolas with men and were allowed to ski with men. The gender barrier was nonexistent on the ski slopes and so women saw this as a chance of freedom sort of. They have police that are supposed to make sure none of the Islamic values are compromised or broken but they haven't been given skis. So as long as the women are on the slopes, they are fine.

2."There is nothing in Islam that says that (women) working is forbidden...If a woman wants to work, she should be able to. She should be able to tell her husband that she doesn't want to just sit around the house... Some men and women deny the right of women to work, and this is either a result of ignorance or holding on too tightly to tradition." These quotes were said by Dr. Umayma Ahmad Al-Jalahma. She is arguing the fact that Islam should not prevent women from working. She thinks that people should be able to adapt and have the freedom to work if they wish. I thought this was interesting because this shows progress regarding the rights of women in Islam and my above point does too. You don't normally hear about the freedom women have. You mostly hear about what they struggle with or what they don't have.

3. From one of my sites, I found that women who have been around longer know many things about what women can do that is normally restricted by law. For example, they are allowed to be educated and it is illegal to keep girls from going to school. Apparently the laws may have been altered a little to what people think women can and can't do but in reality they haven't been part of the Islamic tradition and religion.

4. Iranian women were just allowed to participate in the FIFA Youth Olympics if they were caps instead of the traditional hijab. I think that this is both good and bad. They are allowing the women to play but they are not allowed to wear what they are supposed to wear traditionally. I think it is a good step in the right direction but there is still some work and adaptation that other organizations could do.

5. Islam has made some changes to modernize and make more sense of its self. Islam has gotten rid of polygamy because the Koran states that wives should be treated equally and if you have six it is hard to treat them all the same. They considered it too much work for even a very wealthy man. I think that this is interesting because it shows that Islam is adapting and modernizing sort of. They are trying to make their religion more practical and it will only be a matter of time when the women are completely equal to men.

5 Interesting Facts

• Potatoes were not always loved. After they were brought to Europe they were seen as food for the underclass. This was due because of their relationship to poisonous plants, if let in the sun for too long the potato turns green on top of having a bitter taste they would make some people ill.
• Potatoes became popular until Antoine August Parmentier with a skillful plan made them popular. Parmentier got a piece of land and planted potatoes by day he would have the field guarded. Leading to people becoming very curious and making them steal this valuable vegetable.
• The first people to accept the potato however were the Irish because they were able to plant them in abundance due to their climate. However this lead to the potato famine.
  

“The Secret History of French Fries.” http://www.stim.com/Stim-x/9.2/fries/fries-09.2.html (accessed May 6, 2010)

• Developing countries have recently increased in potato production which I believe is due to the amount of nutrition the potatoes provide and also possibly because of their popularity world wide.
• Even though Asia/Oceania have the largest population and are the largest potato producing areas, they do not even eat half the amount that the Europe or North America regions eat. Europe stands at 87.8 kg per capita while North America is 60.0 kg per capita.

“Potato World.” International Year of the Potato 2008.
http://www.potato2008.org/en/world/index.html (accessed May 6, 2010)

5 Resource Sources

Mudditt, Jessica. “The slippery slope to freedom in Iran.” April 17, 2009. Spiked. http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/6552/. (accessed April 29, 2010).

“Islam supports working women: Ex-Shoura adviser.” September 2, 2009. Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/History/hits?docNum=CJ207088657&tab=64&locID=menlo_schlib&origSearch=false&hdb=ALL&t=RK&s=1&r=d&items=0&secondary=true&o=&sortOrder=RE&n=10&l=dN&sgPhrase=false&c=1&tabMap=82&bucket=nws&SU=islam+women. (accessed April 28, 2010).

"Nation of Islam." Civil Rights in the United States. 2 vols. Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/History/. (accessed April 29, 2010).

Maqsood, Ruqaiyyah Waris. "Islam, Culture and Women." Islam For Today. http://www.islamfortoday.com/ruqaiyyah09.htm. (accessed May 3, 2010).

"FIFA compromise in hijab row over Iran women's team." May 3, 2010. CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/football/05/03/iran.hijab.women.fifa/. (accessed May 3, 2010).

Russia Posts Katyn Massacre Documents on Internet

On Wednesday, Russia's archives posted documents about the massacre of over 20,000 Polish officers and citizens during World War II. This was the first time the documents had been posted by Russia since the war, although they had been public for many years. They did so as as gesture towards Poland to mend relations because the case looms large in Polish history and has soured relations between the two countries for decades. The documents were posted to show that Russia was finally excepting responsibility for the killings in Katyn and else where in the 1940s. The documents show signatures giving permission to Soviet soldiers to kill Polish prisoners of war. The document do not reveal the names of the officers that carried out the executions, but Russia plans to make those documents public on a later date. The release of these documents is playing a positive role in helping Russia come to terms with its painful history under Stalin. Since the tragic plane crash on April 10 that killed the President of Poland and 94 other on boards, relations between Russia and Poland have grown warmer.

Link:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/28/russia-posts-katyn-documents-internet/ 

"Homeless good Samaritan left to die on NYC street"

I found this link to an article about a man who died on a street when he was trying to help a woman who was being attacked. He saw this woman and a man fighting and it began to get physical so this guy stepped in to help her but he ended up getting stabbed and was then laying on the side of the sidewalk. It was reported that 7 people walked by before an ambulance actually came and an hour or two had already passed and so it was too late.

I thought this was just awful because people could have had the opportunity to help but they didn't and so they basically killed him. I understand that seeing someone stabbed may be shocking but I wouldn't just leave him and walk by.

This made me think of how people judge others and how they don't always think of how they can help. Some people are too nervous to take a stand and others are too selfish to help anyone but themselves. To connect to this to history, it can sort of tie to people being to afraid to help someone who is in a different situation. In history, there have been many instances where people are not being treated fairly but the people who are treated fairly don't have the guts to stick up for the other side because they are worried that will hurt them and make them be treated unfairly. In this case, the guy was stabbed and bloody on a street and people may have been frightened that they might be killed if they helped or that the blood would get on them and cause a disease or infection. I think that someone should have helped earlier on by at least calling 911 or getting someone else to help if they couldn't. Personally, I would feel awful if I found out I could have saved someone's life but instead I chose not to be late for work or something.

Article URL:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_dying_and_ignored

Weddings: Now vs. Before

During the years that Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union, the wedding rituals were much different than how they are today. The family life played out in the Soviet Union as if marriage was just as important as two people holding hands in public. As of today, abortions and abolishing their own wedding rings were not frowned upon. It rather seemed weak to have such a strong family unit. Compared to the family life today, a lot has changed. I found this article which talked about the marriage between Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon. They discuss getting their wedding vows renewed every single year. Most marriages that last until death, only get theirs renewed once. They believe that, "if you're happy and in love, why not celebrate it?" As you can see, the importance of marriage has escalated tremendously and people are now wanting to embrace their love rather than hold it in and keep it private.


Article Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/27/mariah.nick.wedding.vows.ppl/index.html

Iran's Nuclear Threat

This article talks about the problem that I believe we have all probably heard of, and its the problem of nuclear weapons and Iran. Iran claims to not having or making any nuclear weapons, and that the Uranium is just being used for medical purposes, but other people are 100% sure that the Uranium is actually being used to develop bombs. If Iran did develop nuclear weapons they could bomb Israel, and cause a massive nuclear war. This would happen because the US is allies with Israel, and they would have to protect the Israel people. One way that this article connects to some  of the stuff that we have been learning is that it could potentially be one big war crime for Iran to break the treaty that all countries currently have.

'I can't afford surgery in the U.S.,' says bargain shopper

An Indiana man needed surgery on his nose, but could not find a hospital that would do it for less than $33,000. So, he looked for surgeons in other places and found that he could save about $30,000 by traveling to the UK. The number of people traveling outside the US to get medical assistance is greatly climbing as prices for medical aid continue to rise in the US. This trend can relate to many times in the past where trade with other nations became necessary during times of hyperinflation or general economic struggle. This also benefits less wealthy countries by giving them more business and allowing them to have a chance to bounce back from their financial deficit.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/26/cheaper.surgery/index.html?hpt=C1

Humans: Not Advised to Contact Aliens

Stephen Hawking, a british scientist, says that there may be aliens and they may exist but humans should not be in contact with them because they could be harmful. People think that if we were to encounter them, then they may try to take over our planet because they liked some of the resources that Earth provides. They think that it may be like Columbus' discovery of "the new world" but in this case the aliens would be Columbus and we would be the Native Americans. The Native Americans were not treated very well and they had their culture and lives almost completely demolished and taken over by Columbus and his followers. Like Columbus, they think the aliens might feel the need to colonize or capture whatever land they find because they have exhausted their own planet. The aliens may be in a situation like Wall-E where they have used up almost all of the resources on their planet. IN Wall-E earthlings or humans let their planet be taken over by trash and so they sat in space in a spaceship which served as their planet because they had nowhere else to go. The Aliens could have nowhere else to go so they might take any chance they have to find a new planet to live on. There is also a new tv show I think that they mentioned about the Universe and aliens. Humans have made numerous attempts to contact "new life" but no aliens have been found yet. They sent a couple of ships with sculptures but they didn't come in contact with any other living things.

Article Found on...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100425/sc_afp/scienceastronomyextraterrestrialhawking

Hubble Telescope

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/photogalleries/100424-hubble-telescope-20th-anniversary-pictures/#hubble-cloudy-nebula-ngc-602_19426_600x450.jpg

This website is about the Hubble Telescope and the photos it had taken. I think it would be interesting to compare and contrast from the first telescope to the hubble and talk about the industrial revolution.

Current Event

http://www.helium.com/items/1813038-report-states-obama-health-care-plan-will-cost-more-and-may-not-be-sustainable

This website share the new health care plan that Obama has created, and how it is not the brightest decision. I guess it would be social, but it is more political.

- 1 Possible connection to history would be how the government has changed. Also he is the president of the USA.

Mao and the Great Leap Forward

Mao started his "Great Leap Forward" with his motivation to surpass the United States of America. His mission was to create a socialist economy. This means he wanted to give more money to the people producing the crops in the fields. Everything Mao tried always seemed to fail and could never work the way he wanted too. The peasants in China were told to build backyard blastfurnaces to make iron and steel for tools. Instead of melting scraps of metal to make utensils and tools, the naive peasants used tools and utensils to melt into unusable amounts of metal. Another example, was the "Great Leap Forward" made the labors stop producing food and switch to making metal which ended up causing a shortage of food in the cities and farms. Basically the "Great Leap Forward" was not what it was supposed to be and actually failed miserably, which is why it should be called the Great Leap Backward.

http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/greatleap.htm