The Lottery of Life

Although I often talk about the issues in the world and how North Americans for the most part don’t have to deal with this issues that plague so many, I don’t say these things to make people feel bad about what they have. I just like to learn about these things and share them.

Because no one has control of the place they are born. I was born in Canada. I got lucky. I won the lottery of life.

On the grand scheme of the globe, very few people are born in developed countries. A few things play a part in this.

Mainly, the difference in cultural norms. In many developing countries, it is normal to have many children. But in North America the average number of kids per family is roughly 2.

Besides social norms, cultural differences also affect the odds of the lottery of life, for example, male dominance in society. And I know that male dominance is prevalent everywhere but unlike in North America where women are able to speak their minds and are equally educated, some countries don’t have this.

This is all to say that you should never feel bad about where you are born. Some people get lucky and others not so much. But what you do with the cards you’ve been dealt is what matters!

Picture from Google

Schoolin' Life

Oh School! Many people around the world are fortunate enough to get the opportunity to go. And just like culture and customs vary per country, so does school.

I came across a website that highlights the general school year of a few different countries in the world.

Australia:

·         The school year last from late January to mid December.

·         The school year is divided into 4 terms that last between 9 to 11 weeks.

·         There are two weeks of vacation between terms.

·         The classes usually have around 18 students.

·         They often use an integrated system where they mix for example, math and science by taking measurements and studying coral reefs.

Costa Rica: (If you recall my post on happiness, Costa Rica was placed first on overall country happiness. Does that mean their students are happier about school too?)

·         Classes usually have around 28 students.

·         Students must wear a uniform.

·         Students in Costa Rica start college at the age of 15. (Most North Americans have just started high school at this age!)

·         The school year last from February till December.

·         Costa Rica is one of the most literate counties in South America.

Iran:

·         The school year last from September till June (Just like Canada).

·         Classes usually have 27 students.

·         Boys and girls are taught separately. The Boys have male teachers and the girls have female teachers.

·         Religious studies are required.

 For more info on these countries and others, check out the link below.

http://www.factmonster.com/world/statistics/school-years.html

Pictures from Google

"Mom, I'm STARVING!"

 

Do you ever have those days where you haven’t eaten much, and you’re grumpy and uncomfortable and when someone asks you what’s wrong, you tell them that you’re STARVING?

There are very few things worse than being hungry. But if I were to tell you that I’ve ever truly been starving, I’d be lying.

Sadly, 1.02 billion people in the world know what it’s like to starve. 1 in 7 people will go to bed hungry tonight. And even they are the lucky ones compared to the 25,000 people who die every day from hunger related causes.

Living in a developed country, it’s really easy to see problems like hunger and immediately think of the poor people living in faraway lands. But this problem affects people right here in Canada.

93,000 Canadians visit the food bank each month. 38% percent of these Canadians are children and youth.

With such a high need for food around the world, you’d think it would be highly valued right? Wrong.

Each year 4 billion tons of food goes to waste.

In 2010, the USA wasted 33.79 million tons of food. To put that into perspective, that is enough food to fill the Empire State building 91 times. (Keep in mind that some of these are American facts but similar numbers can be applied to Canada.)

This is just some food for thought… hahaha see what I did there! But in all seriousness, next time you decide to order a portion of food you know you won’t be able to finish or the next time your mother cooks something you’re not too fond of, think of these statistics.

Sources:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/21-crazy-facts-about-food-waste-in-america.html

http://www.thefoodbank.ca/en/news/hunger_count.asp

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/how-much-in-food-do-canadians-waste-a-year-think-billions/article4580509/

http://www.stophungernow.org/hunger-facts

Picture from Google

The Worker

The worker must work to provide for his/her family. His/her day starts at 4:00 am. There are many jobs available for this worker. The job he/she is required to do depends on the area he/she lives in. There are lots of workers doing many different jobs. Some work in agriculture, some for the army, others in mines or the commercial sex trade business. Poverty is what drives the main need for workers. In some cases, families will agree to provide a worker in exchange for minimal amounts of money or resources simply out of desperation.

The worker works extremely hard and in very dangerous environments. You’d think that the worker would be making a lot of money right? Well some workers are paid less than 35¢ a day.

Because of working, the worker suffers many severe injuries. Some from dangerous machinery, some from toxic fumes and substances and some from dangerous locations.

Roughly 40,000 workers die from pesticide poisoning globally per year.

Many other workers die from HIV/AIDS as a result of prostitution, while others die from malnutrition.

Quite a few workers suffer with addiction to drugs.

In some cases the first requirement of the job after being hired is taking a dangerous cocktail of drugs. If the worker doesn’t do it willingly, they are forced. Many workers die from this. Either the drugs kill them or another drugged co-worker will.

18 million people under the age of 18 are these workers.

40% of them are between the ages of 7 and 10.

Sources:

http://www.justicesociety.org/child-labor

  Pictures from Google

How to Measure Happiness

 

Happiness. Everyone’s searching for it. And everyone has their own idea of what it is.

According to Webster’s English Dictionary, happiness is defined as the state of well-being and contentment or a pleasurable or satisfying experience.

I’ve felt happiness and I’ve seen happiness. I would like to say that I’m a fairly happy person but I’ll admit, sometimes that happiness can come from the wrong places or things.

Some of the happiest people I’ve met in my life are those who have the least materially or have gone through enormous struggles. They are the people who have been dealt a “bad hand” so to speak.

So this made me wonder. Considering the fact that North Americans on a whole have more materially and financially than people in different areas of the world, how does our overall level of happiness compare to those who are living in developing countries?

The data from the Happy Planet Index 2012 uses three factors to calculate overall happiness per country; life expectancy, well being and ecological footprint.

Out of 151 counties, Costa Rica was rated the happiest. They have a long life expectancy, the overall well-being of their people is high and their ecological footprint is very low. (I think it’s safe to say that I now want to live in Costa Rica!)

Canada placed 65^th on the list with high life expectancy and high well-being but a high ecological footprint to go with it.

The United States placed 105^th. The life expectancy and well-being were both good but the ecological footprint was almost humourously high.  On a scale of 1 to 10, the USA’s ecological footprint was a 7.2 compared to Costa Rica’s 2.5

The country that placed last on the list was Botswana. Their ecological footprint was a 2.8 (very close to Costa Rica!)

But sadly the life expectancy and overall well-being of their people was very low.

Honestly, take a look at the list! The link is below.  It’s so interesting!!

http://www.gfmag.com/tools/global-database/ne-data/11940-happiest-countries.html#axzz2iKFYwRIi

Picture from Google

What YOU Want to Know

You know the saying, ‘what we put in is what we get out’? Well that made me wonder. With information being so accessible these days, what are people looking for on the internet?

 My search engine of choice is Google and I’m going to assume that lots of people use it too.

 Using Google, I searched “Most searched on Google 2012” and this is what I found.

According to Google’s report, the top 10 most searched topics globally of 2012 are:

1. Whitney Houston – A popular singer who is commonly known for her hits in the 80’s for example the song I Wanna Dance with Somebody. She passed away in 2012.)
2. "Gangnam Style” – A South Korean song performed by Psy that went viral and gained huge popularity in North America.
3. Hurricane Sandy – Was the deadliest storm of the 2012 Atlantic Hurricane season.
4. iPad 3 – The next addition to the Apple iPad collection of 2012.
5. Diablo 3 – An action, role-playing video game
6. Kate Middleton – The wife of Prince William. She is the first “commoner” to marry into the British royal family.
7. 2012 London Olympics – The Olympic games hosted in London, UK
8. Amanda Todd – A fifteen year old girl who posted a video to YouTube where she used flash cards to describe her story of physical, verbal and cyber bullying before committing suicide.
9. Michael Clarke Duncan – An American actor best known for his role in The Green Mile, who passed away after complications following a heart attack.

10. "Big Brother Brazil 2012" – The Brazilian adaptation of an American reality game show.

 Interesting. Do with this information as you will. There are a few things I take away from this, firstly, that Whitney Houston was and is a big deal and deservingly so. She was incredibly talented! Also that in general, people really like knowing about other people…and electronics.

 Are people in other areas of the world concerned with other things? I checked the top Google searches of 2012 in the Philippines and according to http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2012/12/13/what-asia-cares-about-and-doesnt-according-to-google/ this is what I found.

1. Simsimi - This is a popular chat app.
2. Angry Birds – A popular app.
3.Tertris Battle – A popular app
4. Super Bass lyrics – A popular song performed by Nicki Minaj
5. Gangnam Style - A South Korean song performed by Psy that went viral and gained huge popularity in North America.

From this list I see that on average, people in the Philippines are interested in music and electronics.

 That’s not too different from my observations of other countries and it doesn’t differ very much from the content in the overall global search.

 Sources

http://technorati.com/technology/article/google-unveils-most-googled-search-for/

http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2012/12/13/what-asia-cares-about-and-doesnt-according-to-google/

Picture from Google

Guess Who!

#1 Most powerful celebrity of 2013

#1 Most influential American

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a lover of pop culture. It entertains me and like the majority of North Americans, it’s in the forefront of my society. 

It’s really hard to avoid the media’s sensationalization of people and events in pop culture. Their faces are on magazines and in commercials. You see them in the movies and TV shows you watch.

Celebrities are very easy to recognize and people can get caught up in their lives and their accomplishments. Not that this is a bad thing! Some celebrities have done some pretty awesome things! But when it comes to celebrities we usually know the good, bad and the ugly.

But what about the people who have had an incredible impact on society? Those people without the hype and the fandom. Y’know those ones who have overcome tremendous obstacles in order to bring equality and justice to society and/or the world.

I tested myself to see how much I knew about these two classifications of people. It’s safe to say that I am very uneducated in certain areas.

100 Most influential Americans vs. 100 Most Powerful Celebrities 2013

#100: Herman Melville vs. Miranda Kerr

Herman is most commonly known as the author of Moby Dick. He is referred to as the American Shakespeare.

Miranda is a model. She is most commonly known for being a Victoria’s Secret Angel.

#50: James K Polk vs.  Drew Brees

James (or President Polk if I’m being respectful) spent one term as the president of the United States. He’s most commonly known for his “Mexican War land grab” which gave the USA the states of California, Texas and the Southwest.

Drew is an American quarterback who played for the New Orleans Saints.

#1:  Abraham Lincoln vs. Oprah

President Lincoln is most commonly known for saving the union and freeing the slaves.

Oprah is a media personality. She is most commonly known for being a talk show host and actress.

Go ahead and test you knowledge! The links of these two lists are posted below.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/12/the-top-100-influential-figures-in-american-history/305384/#slide100

http://www.ibtimes.com/forbes-lists-top-100-most-powerful-celebrities-2013-oprah-winfrey-takes-number-one-spot-full-list

Hands in My Pocket

I thought it would be interesting to see what the average North American spends money on and how much money is spent on these things. This idea came to me when I found myself spending three dollars on a bottled drink from a vending machine.

 In all honesty, three dollars for me isn’t much for me but I have heard multiple times that there are people in this world who live on less than a dollar a day. It’s sad but true.

 I thought I’d check to see our spending tendencies. I found that we spend crazy amounts of money on some pretty basic and unnecessary (ß on the grand scheme of life)  things.

 The average American spends $1,092 annually on Coffee

·         Well maybe if you weren’t spending all this money on coffee, you wouldn’t have to spend as much time at work. Therefore giving you more time to relax and sleep when you got home which would cause you to be refreshed and energized in the morning. And you therefore won’t need coffee to begin with!  I'm just saying!

 In contrast, according to The World Game Institute, in 1992 the joint effort of the Indian government, UNICEF and local non-governmental organizations was able to provide clean water to 550 Indians by installing 2.2 million hand pumps. And all this added up to $4.00 per person annually.

 Just some food for thought!

 Here’s a list of other random things the average North American spends money on from MentalFloss.com

·         In 2011, 550 million dollars were spent on pretzels

·         2.6 billion was spent on toilet paper

·         800 million was spent on taxidermy

·         800 million was spent on girl guide cookies

·         1.7 billion was spent on valentine’s day flowers

·         500 million on Twinkies

Click link to see other items. http://mentalfloss.com/article/31222/numbers-how-americans-spend-their-money

 

·         The average woman will spend $15,000 on makeup in her lifetime. http://news.instyle.com/2013/04/17/women-makeup-spending-facts/

 

 

Sorces:

http://business.time.com/2012/01/23/how-much-you-spend-each-year-on-coffee-gas-christmas-pets-beer-and-more/

 http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_a/interact/www.worldgame.org/wwwproject/what04.shtml

Picture from Google