Israel

Anywhere I look this week I read the same: Israel attacks a ship which was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, in Palestine. However, depending on the media I choose to read, the incident looks completely different.

For some, Israel, the Chosen People, the Jews, have defended themselves against a group of communists disguised as charity workers, who were trying to carry guns into Gaza, and who were the first to attack.

For others, Israel, the terrorist state, has proven, once again, that they don't respect international law and has killed some people who were just trying to help the oppressed people of Palestine.

As usual, mass media are biased, and none of them tells the whole truth, while both sides tell part of the truth.

The first mistake most people usually make while discussing Israel is identifying a state with a religion. It is true that Israel is the only officially Jewish state, but that doesn't mean that all Israelis are Jewish (even if it's a wide majority, 16% of the population is Muslim, and there are Christian and other religious minorities. Moreover, not all Jews are Israeli and not all Israeli Jews follow the exact same precepts. Actually, some of the Christian population in Israel define themselves as “messianic Jews”.

So, the origins of this problem are in the very origins of the State of Israel. We are used to having politicians solve our problems, and it is becoming commonplace that they never really solve anything. Well, this was not an exception: while solving the Zionist problem and giving the Jewish people an official state, the didn't do the same with the Palestinians. And while some countries (the USA was the first, closely followed by the Soviet Union) quickly recognised Israel as a State, the surrounding countries (most of them officially Muslim) were more hesitant. Actually, the day after Israel was officially declared an independent state, 5 neighbouring countries declared war and tried to invade it, with the UN sitting back watching. The result of the continuing wars was that Israel gained an additional 26% of surrounding territory, and an estimated 726 thousand Arab and Palestinian refugees (according to UN only 1/3 are really refugees, since the other 2/3 are displaced inside the same territory) This is the main problem, and the one which has not been solved yet. On the other hand, a number of Jews were also expelled from the Palestinian and other Arab neighbouring regions.

So, is this a religious problem? I don't think so. There are Muslims living in Israel, just as Jews living in Arab countries. It is basically a political problem, and a badly solved political situation in the first place.

Now, speaking about the particular incident that took place this week, who's to blame? In my opinion, the Israeli army (as usual) responds with an excess of violence. And (also as usual) the UN does absolutely nothing. The UN should have boats in the area, and it should be an international patrol who check what goes into and out of Palestine, never an Israeli patrol in international waters.

Criminals

Well, this may very well be the last entry for the school year, so I'll leave something funny for you to enjoy before your exams. Two guys are trying to rob some kind of store. One of the thieves is watching the street to make sure nobody is coming and the other one uses a stone to try and break the glass. Can you imagine what's going to happen?

Enjoy and very good luck next week!!

Water

Today is World Water Day, and to mark the occasion I'm joining with some of North America's leading environmental groups to release the latest Story of Stuff Project short film: The Story of Bottled Water.

Like The Story of Stuff, this new film uses simple words and images to explain a complex problem, in this case manufactured demand: how you get people to think they need to spend money on something they don't actually need or already have.

Over the last two decades, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestle and other big beverage companies have spent untold millions of dollars making us afraid of tap water. They've told us that if we want to be sure what we drink is pure and clean-not to mention hip and fashionable-we should buy bottled water.

Unfortunately, it worked.

In the United States alone, we consume approximately 500,000,000 bottles of water each week. Imagine that: while 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water worldwide, other people spend billions of dollars on a bottled product that's no cleaner, harms people and the environment and costs up to 2,000 times the price of tap water.

But there's good news: Last year, for the first time in a long time, bottled water sales fell-not that much, but they went down. Consumers who want economy, portability and convenience are switching to refillable metal bottles. Restaurants are proudly serving tap water. And cities, states, companies and schools around the world are ditching the bottle to save money and do their part for the environment.

Still, we've got a ways to go.

So please, take a minute today to watch The Story of Bottled Water. Then pass it along to your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers-anyone you think might be interested.

You are The Story of Stuff Project's strongest allies: You made the original Story of Stuff an Internet phenomenon, with nearly 9 million views total. Last December, you pushed The Story of Cap & Trade past half a million views in just under six weeks. And in the last ten days, you've helped our new book, The Story of Stuff, enter the New York Times extended bestseller list at #35. Thank you a million times over.

After you've forwarded The Story of Bottled Water to your networks, I encourage you to join a campaign for investment in clean tap water for everyone, like those sponsored by our partners at Corporate Accountability International, Food & Water Watch, Polaris Institute, Environmental Working Group, and Pacific Institute. Visit these fantastic groups' websites to learn more, sign-up and get involved.

Together, we can send Coke, Pepsi, Nestle and the rest of the industry a message as clear as a glass of tap water: We're not buying into your manufactured demand anymore. We'll choose our own demands, thank you very much, and we're demanding clean safe water for all!

Feng Shui

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics believed to use the laws of both Heaven (astronomy) and Earth (geography) to help one improve life by receiving positive qi. Historically, feng shui was widely used to orient buildings – often spiritually significant structures such as tombs, but also dwellings and other structures – in an auspicious manner. Depending on the particular style of feng shui being used, an auspicious site could be determined by reference to local features such as bodies of water, stars, or a compass. Feng shui was suppressed in China during the cultural revolution in the 1960s, but has since seen an increase in popularity, particularly in the United States.
Today, feng shui is practiced not only by the Chinese, but also by Westerners. However, with the passage of time and feng shui's popularization in the West, much of the knowledge behind it has been lost in translation, not paid proper attention to, frowned upon, or scorned.
Robert T. Carroll sums up what feng shui has become in some cases:
"... feng shui has become an aspect of interior decorating in the Western world and alleged masters of feng shui now hire themselves out for hefty sums to tell people such as Donald Trump which way his doors and other things should hang. Feng shui has also become another New Age "energy" scam with arrays of metaphysical products ... offered for sale to help you improve your health, maximize your potential, and guarantee fulfillment of some fortune cookie philosophy."
Others have noted how, when feng shui is not applied properly, or rather, without common sense, it can even harm the environment, such as was the case of people planting "lucky bamboo" in ecosystems that could not handle them.
Adapted from wikipedia

Saint Patrick's Day

This Wednesday we celebrate Saint Patrick's Day. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years. On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast—on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

In 1848, several New York Irish Aid societies decided to unite their parades to form one New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. Today, that parade is the world 's oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States, with over 150,000 participants. Each year, nearly three million people line the 1.5-mile parade route to watch the procession, which takes more than five hours.

But, who was Saint Patrick?

St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity's most widely known figures. But for all his celebrity, his life remains somewhat of a mystery. Many of the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are false, the products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling.

It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century. He is believed to have died on March 17, around 460 A.D. Although his father was a Christian deacon, it has been suggested that he probably took on the role because of tax incentives and there is no evidence that Patrick came from a particularly religious family. At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity. During this time, he worked as a shepherd, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian.

After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, a voice-which he believed to be God's-spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland.

To do so, Patrick walked nearly 200 miles from County Mayo, where it is believed he was held, to the Irish coast. After escaping to Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation-an angel in a dream tells him to return to Ireland as a missionary