Obama vs. Osama.

News broke that today, Osama Bin Laden was killed and buried at sea. Celebrations commence around the world. Justice has been done to those who were killed on 11/9. (I’m British, the date comes before the month thank you very much.) Interestingly, this is becoming comparable to the date when Hitler was also pronounced dead. Coincidence? I’ll leave that to you to decide. These dates are becoming a little bit fishy for my likings. 

Social networking news feeds have suddenly come alive in exam season (please see the previous blog post for more information), some of my favourite humorous statuses include, “Bin Laden’s twitter informs me he’s gone for a swim,” (Thank you Miss Mehzabeen Patel); ☑ “Saddam Hussein ☑ Osama Bin Laden ☐ Justin Bieber....” (Very grateful Mr Jhon Valencia); “Osama Bin Laden is dead!!!! The longest hide ‘n’ seek game comes to an end...” (Much obliged Miss Pari Tailor) and finally “Does this mean I can bring shampoo with me to the airport now?” (Appreciate it Mr Anish Vekaria). Groups such as “So, Osamba Bin Laden is finally dead. Shall we have another bank holiday?” and “A prince gets married, the bad guy is dead. It’s a real Disney weekend.” are quickly becoming highly popular. 

On to the more serious concerns though, supposedly: "He was buried at sea according to Islamic traditions, US officials said, seemingly in a bid to prevent his grave becoming a shrine." Makes sense. Correct me if I’m wrong but my understanding of this is that in Islam you are to be buried in a place where you shan’t be dug up. But come on now, where’s the proof? They conveniently decided not to photograph/conduct any DNA tests/capture him for questioning. Where is the evidence I hear many people scream. Obama’s word simply will not suffice. When Saddam was captured there was a video, albeit a dark and bad quality video, of his execution made available for everyone to see for verification. Surely, you would want to question him? Make an example of him? Just show that you actually did capture him? 

It seems likely that this event will support Obama’s pledge for a second term in presidency as his promises to transform the health care system aren’t as reliable. (In hindsight I found this quote: In February, 2004, an Iranian state radio claimed Osama Bin Laden had been captured in Pakistan’s border region with Afghanistan “a long time ago.” Pentagon and Pakistani officials denied the report. “Osama bin Laden has been arrested a long time ago, but Bush is intending to use it for propaganda manoeuvring in the presidential election,” the radio report said.)

While we’re on that point. How can the American government justify spending almost HALF their discretionary spending on their department of defence?! 

 

Interesting also note that the American expenditure on military comparatively to the rest of the world:  (The diagram alone explains more than my words will be able to impact)

The USA is responsible for 46.5%, almost half, of the world total, on military spending. That’s INSANE. 

I mean, you can kinda see what’s gonna happen next. Security on high alert, yet another terrorist attack to avenge Bin Laden’s death. Quickly followed by another man replacing him on the most wanted list and another excuse for the US to spend incredible amounts of money on wars despite being in so much debt from the recession... Conspiracy theories are already coming to surface, 11/9 is already considered to be an inside job, talks of the emergency number in the US, 911 and 9/11 being suspicious are resurfacing... (Thanks Farcel Rabess) Talks of Obama being the best option for America because he caught Osama, he can catch the next bad guy... But I don’t wanna get into all that or I’ll be here writing until Christmas. 

Funnily enough, “your appendix is more likely to kill you than al-Qaida is.”Some 2752 people were killed on 11^th September and people 52 on 7^th July. Compare that to THREE MILLION PEOPLE dying from HIV/AIDS in 2003 alone. Can you imagine how much difference $663.7 billion a year could make to this?! Or alternatively even a fraction of this expense spent on the 513,000,000 people without safe drinking water could save millions of lives. The 1.2 billion people living off of $1 or less a day could have that budget increased by $1.5, more than doubled (664/365/1.2)! I ask you, is this spending really justified on the revenge of the lives of less than 3000 people that were taken...? Here are some more mind-boggling statements considering worldwide statistics for terrorist fatalities:

“More fatalities occur "each day" from auto accidents then occur from terrorism for the "whole year".

More fatalities occur worldwide each year from animal attacks then occur from terrorism.

 
More fatalities occur each year from falling down stairs (falling down) then occur from terrorism.

More fatalities occur "each day" from medical malpractice then occur from terrorism for the "whole year”.

430,000 Americans are killed by cigarettes EVERY YEAR. (The equivalent of 9/11 repeated every two days forever.)”

The figures are so out of proportion. Take a look at this chart detailing causes of deaths:

 

All I’m saying is that the largest cause of death in America is heart disease, more than six hundred thousand people died from it in 2004, surely suffers from it deserve a higher allocation of the budget. No doubt that discussions, rumours and talks will continue. Will we ever learn the truth? 

-K

Links:

• http://news.sky.com/skynews/Article/201105115983545

• http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/09/7174

• http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/business-news-briefs/2011/02/obama_budget_faces.html

• http://www.theinsider.org/news/article.asp?id=0472

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget#Total_spending 

• http://www.prisonplanet.com/osama-bin-laden-has-been-dead-for-years.html

• http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending

• http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm

¡   

Exams, revision and self-development.

YO HOMIES!

[I swear London brings out my inner ghetto child]

It’s been a while since I last posted and to be honest although I don’t have a solid ‘excuse,’ if you will I’ve keeping myself occupied. I’m making a conscious decision however to make an effort from now. I wanna stick at it. In fact, I’m gonna stick at it. I just need a bit of prodding and inspiration from time to time...

As most of you know, it’s that dreaded exam season again. It seems to arrive sooner with every passing year and the symptoms are EVERYWHERE. Stressed moaning students, the various people temporarily deactivating their Facebook accounts, libraries suddenly packed to the brim, procrastination in all shapes and forms and of course, a rise in the sale of red bull and such energy drinks! =P Personally, I am beginning to feel the pressure! Being in my final year of my degree it feels like I’m coming to an end of an era, AND I AM ABSOLUTELY BRICKING IT. Over the years I’ve developed an off switch somewhere in my brain so I am able to block things out completely which is quite handy. I’m already finding myself uttering the three words which students akin can relate to: “after my exams,” which is basically the line we all use to put off ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING you could possibly think of. The rest of the year, these words equate to the word lazy, but for this short period of time it transforms into a respectable nod of approval.

Revision is an interesting area of discussion. I myself, tend to get particularly ambitious and want to cover EVERYTHING and take notes (i.e. copy practically everything down with colourful pens.) Hell, half the time my notes are longer than the page in a book ‘cause my handwriting is so big and I combine sources and add in extra explanations for myself! After spending a week studying at Queen Mary, however, I have discovered new techniques. Let me narrate a conversation I happened to overhear: “I know how to answer Q5 in the exam, do you understand Q2, teach me?!” Shocking that this is even possible! I mean, yeah, you can get an idea into how the exam will be laid out, even potentially topics that come up. But to know exactly what formulae to use for each subsection of every question and have template answers, really?! People are able to analyse the type and structure of the question in previous exams and derive a method to solve calculations without understanding anything at all. Risky and amusing, but in short time spans, I am assured that it has proven to be highly successful. There’s revising, there’s revising smartly and then there’s just taking the damn piss.

Everyone has their own learning style, you can find out yours by conducting a simple VAK test, check out Google, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of alternatives available. Results will vary from Visual, Auditory, and Kinaesthetic to a combination of these. I happen to be a visual and kinaesthetic learner, so I learn by seeing and doing things as opposed to by hearing of things. Naturally, this means that I should read more, in particular colourful books with pictures (I just read that back and it makes me sound like a four year old) and put things into practise, doing and touching things (and that makes me sound like a baby exploring! – BRILLIANT =S). Anyway, it makes sense to utilise your strengths with your revision technique. Another revision tip I have is cutting the crap. Seriously, this is the time of the year you should be fuelling your body on good stuff, not the dentist’s worst nightmare! With your mental exertion at it’s peak, surely you want this is the time when you want the best inside you so your performance is optimum...

Exams and revision aside, this will be the final few months where student behaviour is acceptable, and frankly, I’m gonna miss all of the lie-ins, lack of routine, the flashing of my student card cheekily requesting student discount on everything and not having to answer to anyone, at all. On a more serious note, I’m sure that my learning has not come to an end and I still have much to gain from working. Self-development is one of those things in life, the more you put in, the more you gain. It’s always great to volunteer for things and consciously consider improving your skills base be it athletically, academically, technically, confidence levels, leadership, learning a new language, what ever tickles your fancy really. 

I'm constantly thinking of ways to better myself and to explore ways to self develop. I want to push myself and be the best person I can be. For example, I blog to work on my writing skills, I make cards to channel my creativity, I love to read and I'd like to think this makes me somewhat knowledgeable. I've also got targets for myself, like sometime in the next year I want to complete a 5K run and begin to learn a language.

A few of my friends have/will be taking gap years or travelling abroad to teach or for charitable work, (out comes the green eyed monster – for those who aren’t fans of Shakespeare I’m referring to jealousy/envy) and I see them developing despite not being in education. There is so much out there to learn in this world, TV and the internet can only offer so much. I recommend taking some time out to pursue a hobby or something; I came across this quote last night: What we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we think and do. What we think and do determines who we are. I think it touches on this area. GO OUT THERE AND GRAB LIFE. If you want to be a musician, go and do it. If you want to go swim with dolphins, go do it. If you want to climb a mountain, go do it. If you want to write a best seller, (you know what’s coming!) GO DO IT! Or as Nike would say, just do it! You’re the only one stopping yourself! Sometimes, I seriously think I’m my own worst enemy sometime in terms of progressing and I’m sure some of you share this view. It’s a tonnes easier just to laze around and take things for granted, easier to watch a film than to read a book, easier give up your dreams than to go out there and fight for them. Where does all our childhood ambition go?! Go out there and take some risks! Do things a bit different, shake up the routine a bit!

Also, you must understand it doesn’t mean because you have some grades you have what you need in life. Quite often after all the struggle people still feel as though there is something missing, perhaps just something depriving them of fulfilment. I’m not trying to devalue education, you must understand education is a stepping stone for big things. You have so much potential. I believe every single person has the capability to do something unique and special, I think you all have a world record within you that is waiting to be unleashed so explore... Let me end by saying: study hard, use your strengths to your advantage, eat well and remember it’s not all about the academics. There’s more to life than books, grades and jobs. =]

-K

P.S. Couple of little things. Show your support by joining the Kay’s Take fan page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Kays-Take/189308221115770. Feel free to post suggestions for future topics and ask questions. And if you’re a fan of my cards and crafts, join the Kay’s Krafts fan page on Facebook also: http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Kays-Krafts/158470380884257.

THANKS EVER SO MUCH!! =]

Technology

Hey dudes and dudettes, 

Sorry for the lack of blog posts in the last couple weeks, hopefully that’ll change now for a while and I’ll keep at it at least until exams kick off...The topic up for discussion today is technology and its enhancements as well as drawbacks to society. 

Right, so, many have proclaimed that as a society we are currently living though the ‘digital age,’ as it were. Not many people in their lifetimes will bear witness to a time in which changes occur at such an exponential rate. Not many people grow up with any idea about the drastic changes that will take place over their lifetimes. In the past it has been predictable... Not now though. Now, everything is so volatile. Unforeseeable changes take place rapidly. The older generation are always moaning about how much has changed since they grew up. [Mind you, so do I from time to time!] It’s simply amazing watching thing develop, can you IMAGINE what on earth it was like a couple of decades ago, where computers, mobile phones and social networking weren’t central to our existence?! Up to the age of about 14 I didn’t have a computer at home or a mobile phone so I feel as if I can truly appreciate what things were like. Granted I was young and I probably didn’t have much use for a computer/mobile before that stage; but it’s beyond me WHY these days eight-ten year olds have mobile phones, and smart phones at that, if I’m honest.

Never before has knowledge been so close to our fingertips via our good friend, Google. Yet, it seems that despite this never before have the younger generation been so THICK. [Obviously, not everyone.] But seriously the number of naïve teenagers who can’t even communicate properly. I struggle to comprehend their text messages and in fact many of them can’t express themselves on a piece of paper. It’s simply ironic because this is the age where networking is vital. You are able to find and stay in touch with all the significant people you met throughout your life, but somehow you don’t know how to construct a string of words together properly... There’s no excuse really. 

I mean, I remember going to the library every couple of days when I was young, I don’t think I’ve ever got through as many books since I fell in love with the internet! It’s a serious shame, because there’s nothing like spending a few hours engulfed in a book. And yet all around the ‘younger generation’ complain about reading and how boring it is and how they’d much rather watch the film when its released. Come on now. NO FILM, HAS EVER, COMPARED TO THE BOOK! [Excluding Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate factory which gave the books a run for their money. Perhaps this is because they’re short children’s books and because they probably don’t even take more than 2/3 hour to read, the producers are able to encapsulate their story well.] It’s an absolute JOKE that LIBRARIES are being CLOSED DOWN due to the budget constraint. Some dude called Neil Gaiman (jokes about his surname aside) said: "Libraries are our future – to close them would be a terrible, terrible mistake – it would be stealing from the future to pay for today which is what got us into the mess we’re in now.” Couldn’t have put it better myself. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of technology and computers, those who know me well know I’m a secret geek. I love that I can just send someone across the world a message from my beautiful iPhone with What’s App, FOR FREE. I love that I never have to miss my favourite TV shows because I can catch up via 4oD or streaming from other website. I love that my inner valetudinarian can seek medicinal solutions without having to visit a doctor. I love the satisfaction of being able to open up my PC and sort a problem out and my ability to program in a number of languages. In fact I want to do another Cisco course or something else computing related after Uni. 

What I don’t like is that technology is slowly sucking away the joys of the simple things. I can’t remember the last time I got a hand written letter. I can’t remember the last time I went to the library to take out a book that wasn’t educational. [I do read fiction books but not nearly as much as I would like.]  I can’t remember the last day I went without using my laptop let alone the last day I went without using my phone. The paradox of technology is that never before have there been so many conveniences yet we complain about having no time. 
 

It is thanks to technology that I’m able to share my opinions with you... However, I urge you to shake things up a little this week. Pick up a book. Send someone a letter. Play a board game. Make someone a card. (Check out some of my ones below – I do sell them so get in touch if you are interested...) Do something old school. Do something a bit personal. I’m gonna be doing the same! =] 

-K 

Hey guys and girls.

Sorry folks, I'm afraid I have bad news.

Since my dissertation deadline is looming, I'm taking a break from blogging...

I shall blog again on the first Monday April, so basically in two weeks time.

Don't miss me too much! =P (I'm sure you won't)

-K

Education – Learning to learn vs learning to get a job.

Apologies again for last week, I’m having a crazy time at the moment and frankly I can NOT wait till my degree is OVER!! (That and Wednesday when the Leadership Tournament I’m organising is over!) Before I begin just a quick message for y’all: It seemed that the week before last my blog readership grew exponentially with relation to prior weeks, so thank you to those people that spent the time reading and commenting, a fair deal of interesting opinions were voiced. I do appreciate it. A few people even put the link up on their statuses for which I really want to thank you for! Please do continue to promote it to friends and family because that’s how most people come to know it exists. I won’t lie. It is a massive ego massage to check the stats and see hundreds of people reading weekly! Anyway, onwards with today’s post!

This week I haven’t really had a chance to sit down and actually mull something over in my mind, I’ve been so preoccupied with a variety of things going on in my life and when I do have a free minute I spend it asleep! So apologies if you think the topic isn’t as substantial as some of the prior ones. 

Now let’s get to it. Education. Many people these days are ambitious. They want to do big things and they envision that having a solid foundation (i.e. education) will get them there. Which in some cases works, but in many it strikes me as the wrong reason to learn. I’m one of those people who loves to learn for the sake of discovering something new and building on a talent. But our education system here in the UK channels us to get educated for a job. You learn because you want/need to pass an exam. For me, this concept seems really, really wrong. Yeah, there should be a way of testing your understanding but a mark on a piece of work you do over an hour (or a number of hours for coursework) does not demonstrate your actual capabilities. I think this is why I enjoyed school so much. Although there was emphasis on exams and blah I didn’t have to study (well study much) outside of school hours to get a pretty decent set of grades. It was enough for me to come in to lessons, listen, actively participate, and ultimately UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT/S, thus allowing me to apply my knowledge and somehow that came across when I did my exams. 

In college and uni I discovered that simply paying attention in class was not enough to get you anywhere. You need to learn but you need to portray that you’ve learnt things in a certain way, almost show that you’ve done a fair deal more than expected. In order to get the good marks you had to consciously structure your answers in an almost calculated process, ticking things as you go. [e.g. Business: Definitions of key terms, advantages of technique one, disadvantages of technique one, advantages of technique two, disadvantages of technique two (iterate as appropriate to the number of marks available) before concluding which you think is most appropriate to the case study and justify) You were taught how to answer the question, think about it, how WRONG is that!? You should be taught the concept enabling you to apply the knowledge in an exam not working backwards by teaching you ‘this is what examiners look for.’ Technically this means that you can blag/wing an exam without actually knowing anything substantial but by knowing how to write an answer which doesn’t take a genius. That is the problem these days. How on earth are we ever going to achieve something when the basis of our lives, education, revolves around short cuts. Personally, I’d much rather spend a day learning a concept and actually getting it than an hour learning how to answer a question making it appear as though I know what I’m prattling on about. In school I was always the one nicking the fat-ass text books (which you weren't allowed to take home) which elaborated on theory and reading them then the condensed notes with key words emboldened and underlined! Maybe that makes me a geek. I don’t know. I ENJOY LEARNING. But I learn to learn, not to pass an exam. I DESPISE learning to pass an exam which is probably why I didn’t like college and I’m not the greatest fan of uni either. 

That said, is an education the basis for doing well?! Really, if there are such methods of gaining good grades without understanding then it means nothing. Take for example Science, how can an A* mean you understood concepts when actually all you did was regurgitate notes ensuring that you included the key words like photosynthesis, light, water, carbon dioxide, chlorophyll and energy without understanding what the stomata does. Maybe that’s a bad example but I hope you get the gist of it. Why on earth are we dumbing things down. Making things ‘bitesize’ developing a formula/strategy to pass exams… Surely, this devalues the whole education system. Look at people that got far in life such as Bill Gates and Richard Branson, they did it without a good education. I’m not saying don’t go to school or anything but it just goes to show education isn’t everything. 

Ultimately I don’t think the government are making life any easier for this major problem. Charging £9,000 for a degree is rather high. And now people would think twice about going to study a subject where the financial returns in a job aren’t high. People that come to uni for a job after they graduate will continue to do so, but people that come to uni to study English, History, etc because they genuinely enjoy it, which typically aren’t going to result in a large monthly pay packet will stop. And I fully understand why they’re in the position that they have to do so. I mean they were already subsidising education by two thirds, and we were taking that for granted now that they’ve taken it away. But it’s just making the problem worse. Not the financial problem but that of the reasons why people choose to study. Often I think going to university is a societal pressure. Almost as though you must go to uni to get a good job. FALSE. The number of graduates without a job is a scary figure. A degree isn’t all you need. You need a degree from an esteemed institute, you need extra-curriculars and you need to demonstrate passion.  

It’s all supply and demand, all my fellow economists will already know this. You have bad quality graduates: You raise the price, the demand will drop, this will mean that those people who go to university will decrease. Only dedicated and high calibre students will be able to get into university, the rest will not. Institutes which are lower on the ranking tables will close down because they will no longer have people applying and it will be financially unfeasible to continue running it. Therefore, students will compete fiercely for limited places in less unis. Survival of the fittest if you will. So smaller number of people with degrees but from more credible universities = restoring the quality of graduates. Even still, I firmly believe, a degree can only give you so much. You need experience in an array of things. Employers do not perceive a degree as a sufficient reason to hand out jobs. You need soft skills, creativity, ability to present, problem solving skills, all sorts of things that uni does not give you. I guess this is where extra curriculars come in. Well at least from my experience anyway. 

I’m going to leave you with something that I read, a really interesting report in my first semester this year by James Dyson who suggested ways to pave the way for Britain’s success. It boiled down to encouraging children from a young age to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects. We here in the UK have some of the top STEM subject universities in the world yet most of the people studying these subjects are from abroad… Every year the numbers of English students applying to study such subjects drops. Dyson proposed to create a culture where STEM subjects are respected, encouraging students to pursue these subjects, exploiting the knowledge we have, and financing/supporting high tech projects, companies and courses. If anyone is interested in reading the report, I do recommend it, drop me your email address, I have it saved on my PC and will send it your way. I quote: “4% of teenage girls want to be engineers, 14% want to be scientists, and 32% want to be models.” This makes me so sad.

Have a good week! Study hard! =P

-K

 

Apologies

Hey everyone.

I'm afraid I shan't be posting this week. I have too much going on and a lot on my mind. 

Sorry to disappoint. 

Have a good week! 

-K