Life's expenses

Hi folks,

As you can see, I have not been abducted by aliens…so I’m still able to write on my blog :-)

So this week I read two articles on 7Speaking. One was about the high prices and the other one about Leonardo Da Vinci. The Da Vinci-article wasn’t very interesting so I will concentrate on the price issue.

Everyone noticed that the prices jumped to a level we’ve never seen before. The article I read, pointed out two reasons why prices are so high: speculation and bad harvests because of flooding. These are both true. Excessive speculation is certainly a reason why we now have to pay so much for gasoline or food products. Also the climate change, resulting in flooding and other disasters, is responsible for the increasing prices.

But these aren’t the only reasons I think. I’m working on a thesis about high food prices and I divided all the reasons into three groups: demand-factors, supply-factors and intermediary factors.

The demand-factors are:
- Increase of the world population
- Growing wealth and demand for meat in the BRIC-countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China)
The supply-factors are:
- Bad harvests (due to climate change)
- Biofuel production
- The high price of petroleum
The intermediary factor is speculation

Which of these factors is the most responsible for the food crisis? I don’t know yet, I haven’t finished my thesis. But I guess it will be a combination of (in order of importance) biofuel regulations, climate change and the developing BRIC-countries.

I don’t want to go too much in detail, maybe I’ll bore you with this subject but I’m really interested in this matter. After all, this crisis reaches every one of us. Next week, during our English class, I'm gonna give a presentation about the high prices. Everybody is invited.

See you guys next week

ST

Sweet Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Today we celebrate love and friendship. There is too much hate and anger in the world and hopefully this day can bring some positive energy to all the people all over the world.



For those who don't have a girlfriend/boyfriend yet...let's hope cupid will do his work.

The sky is the limit!!!

Hi folks,

Who wants some clean air? I guess everybody. In the United States, the new president wants the states to set their own limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. For some states, this will result in tougher standards. The car industry is against this proposition of course, because the price of a car will go up when it has to meet these tougher standards. Despite the protest, I really hope this law will become reality. You can’t do enough for the preservation of the environment.

Who believes in aliens? Personally I don’t know. I don’t think we are the only living creatures in our universe. It’s so huge that it’s not realistic to say that we’re alone. But I really don’t have a clue how these “other things” look like. Do they look like humans or do they have another shape. Are they more like animals? Plants maybe? Do they live under water? Do they breathe like we do?
I tell you this because Britain has just released 1500 pages of secret (until now) files of UFO-related topics. UFO means Unidentified Flying Object. The files and witness reports describe Royal Air Force attacks on a UFO back in 1957. They also include first-hand accounts of people claiming to be abducted by aliens. Is all this true or not? I don’t know the answer. Do you?


CU next week … if I’m not abducted by aliens in the meantime ;-)

ST

Heroes and diamonds

Hi folks,

This week I read two articles. And I can assure you, they both have a happy ending ;-)

Last week, a US Airways pilot did something amazing. To avoid a plane crash, Chesley Sullenberger landed his damaged aircraft into the Hudson River. Shortly after takeoff the plane hit a flock of geese. The pilot didn’t have another option than to land the plane into the river. Ferry boats rushed to the passengers who had climbed onto the wings. Amazingly, all of the one hundred and fifty five people survived. In America, Sullenberger is now a big hero. He even received a medal of the mayor of New York. I guess he deserves it, after all he saved all those lives. It isn’t easy to land an airplane on water.

‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ they say. Scarlett Johansson, a 23-year old actress showed off her big diamond ring she got from her fiancé Ryan Reynolds, also an actor. Reynolds proposed and apparently Johansson said yes. I hope they will be happy, but I guess they will also have a lot of problems with the paparazzi. After all, they’re a celebrity couple. I agree that if you’re famous, you’re a little bit ‘public property’. But sometimes the photographers want too much and they follow – even stalk – the celebrities.

CU next week
ST

Life

Hi folks,

As promised, I’ll tell you some more positive things than last week. This week I read 4 articles on the 7Speaking website.

Who believes The King is alive? Apparently there are many people who believe this. When I say ‘The King’ I mean Elvis Presley if you haven’t figured that out yet. Famous artists who have died young, always seem to leave some mystery behind. There are always die hard fans that dress up or try to live like their idol. I think everyone is unique and special and you don’t have to pretend you’re someone else. But hey, that’s just my opinion.

My second article was about the Italian railway company who launched a high-speed train on the Rome-Milan line. They cut off one hour of the travelling time and now they can do the track in 3 hours and 30 minutes. We live in a world where time is important and technology will always find ways to save time. This is a good thing but only if we fill in the time we’ve gained with something positive, or something relaxing like spending more time with your family or spending more time on yourself instead of only trying to gain more and more time. Don’t forget to live, because life is going really fast.

This week’s number 3 was a real treat. The Cayman Islands with its coral reefs, frogfish and reggae beats is a beautiful place to spend your holiday. But lately a lot of businessmen found their way to the luxurious resorts. Now there are more people with briefcases and cellphones than there are scuba divers. Like I said earlier, don’t forget to live. Enjoy life!

Last but certainly not least: Prince Harry wants to spend more time helping children. He founded a charity in Lesotho in the memory of his mother, Princess Diana. Because of his busy army life, he can’t go there as much as he would like to. The charity helps orphans and abused children and wants to give them a better life. I’ve always dreamt about going to a pour country and build a school there or do something else to help those people. I’m really lucky I was born in one of the ‘Western country’s’ but I’ve always wanted to help the less fortunate. Maybe after graduating I’ll do it for a couple of months…who knows

byebye


ST

About bombs, missiles and car crashes

Hi folks,

Let me tell you about my work on 7Speaking this week. I read 3 articles about different topics:

The first one was about a bomb that went off in a bank and killed two people in America. The Police had found a suspicious object and when they took it inside, it exploded. The federal government offered a huge amount of money (a $35,000 reward) for information leading to an arrest and a conviction in this case. I really don’t understand why anyone would like to blow up other people or someone else’s property. These people are really crazy. The fact that the government offers a big reward to catch this lunatic is a typical American phenomenon, I guess.

My second article was about a complex test executed by the Pentagon. They tested a missile defense shield network by launching an interceptor missile to knock down another missile which simulated an enemy attack. In fact, both missiles were launched from the American continent, but one of them meant to simulate a North Korean long-range missile. This test cost $120 to $150 million dollars. I think America is spending too much money on defense when the poverty-rate is still very high. Hopefully Obama will be less defense-oriented then Bush.

My last article was a short news report broadcast on the radio about the death of Grace Kelly. She was an actress and a princess of Monaco, but died because of a car accident. Even though I wasn’t born yet at the time of this accident, I heard several stories about it. People were really shocked. I can imagine how the people felt back then, because a year ago I heard on the news that one of the most famous football players in Belgium (where I come from) also died because of a car accident. He played for my favorite team and was also a player of our national team. I didn’t know hem personally but it really was a punch in the face when I first heard it.

I’ll try to read something positive next week, because when I look back on this week’s work, it all looks a bit negative: bomb, dead, war, accident. Maybe next week I’ll tell you a love story or a fairy-tale, who knows ;-)

CU soon

ST

Happy New Year ! ! !

Hi folks,

First of all I want to wish everyone a happy and especially a healthy 2009!

This week, I read 3 articles. The first one was about the world’s largest painting (or at least an attempt to break the record) in Thailand. The canvas would be sold afterwards to the highest bidder and the whole amount would be donated to charity. I think this is a nice initiative even though I have my doubts about this whole “trying to get in the Guinness Book of World Records-mania”.

My second topic was about Estonia and its elections in 2011. It will be the first country where the citizens can vote by mobile phone. If this can be done in a secure way, without the risk of hacker attacks, fraud or vote count manipulation, I really believe this could be a good voting system.

My last article was about 30 Chrysler factories which will be closed for a month. Because of the international crisis, Chrysler is nearing the minimum level of cash it needs to run the company. In my opinion, I don’t think this measure won’t do any good. The workers will be unemployed for one month and the factories won’t make any money during that period.

So far my first entry of the year
CU soon

ST