Martin Luther King...national holiday for past 25 years in the US...

What a beautiful man, what a vision, and yet the difference between him and other famous or infamous people is that his 'dream' lives on. Inside all of us we can come to know the beauty that can happen when people of good will come together. it's a call that we forget sometimes but I'm glad I'm reminded of it from time to time. Here's one of many videos you can find on this great man.

A cute Christmas wish for my followers

Check out this link, remember to put your name when prompted to do so and turn up the speakers, have fun this Christmas, here is the link.

Now this is cool...plastic back to oil

This 5 minute video deals with a Japanese inventor who created a low cost machine to convert plastic back into oil/s. I don't know enough about all the scientific implications but it sounds reasonable enough to me. If only our politicians were willing to give it a go. Love to hear your thoughts on this story.

Aboriginal Education in Alberta

Hassan from block 3 wanted me to blog this article for him. Here are some of his comments...( i think is true about the education system involving aboriginal people and also the adversities aboriginal people had faced that keep some of them living like a third world country. one the most important issuse in this article is that students are not taught the history of aboriginal culture.the Canadian history as the article suggest doesn't contain the voice and perspective of aboriginal people.) Thank you for your thoughts Hassan, if others would like to see the original article it is found here. 

Human Rights Day, Dec. 10th what can you do???

When we discussed human rights day in class today some asked me to blog this site so they can investigate later so here it is. We looked at the Lubican Cree situation up north and there is a video that is 36 minutes long that will tell of their plight. Let me know what you think and/or discuss further in class. Suggestions for human rights day welcomed!?
Two extra links worth checking out youth for human rights and/or human rights.org also worth a look.

Out of the mouth of babes...strong social message

This Declan is quite the singer but his lyrics are quite incredible. For a 12 year old the time of this song, this is  simply beautiful and meaningful and if you're like this emotional Italian type, have a tissue handy.  Ton's of political/economic implications in this song, give me a an email on it if you'd like. Enjoy!

Human development index...some new twists

In it's 20th year of statistical research there are some new features to this United Nations based index which can be found here. For example, when they measure a countries health, they are going beyond wealth and using 'sustainability' into the equation. By doing so it reveals a more accurate picture of a countries wealth. For example, the United States rank based on it's human health index without taking into account environmental health is 4th in the world but in new rank it drops to 24th taking into account it's ecological footprint. A new term called the Multidimensional Human Index, takes into account the factors of education, health and living standards to get a more complete look at how a country is truly doing. As well, the usual statistical information on wealth, poverty, education is available. It's a long report but do take some time to look at some of the statistics, I find it all interesting and hopefully so will you...do send me notes on anything you find interesting in the report.

Friends of medicare

As we discussed in class, here is the link you'll need if you want to investigate the issue of health care and privatization. The 4 minute video you will find on this page will give you a sense of what path the Friends of Medicare believes the new Alberta Health Act will take. Do view the video and read the report on the Health Care Act or seek out other perspectives on the direction health care seems to be taking. For a list of the five principles that guide health care, take a look here. Looking forward to reading your responses.