Father has gone mad with a gun

Source

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1394790/Mother-year-old-daughter-dead-shooting-police-guard-injured-suspect-hospital.html

Summary

A ten-year-old girl fled from death when her stepfather went mad with a gun. The father of her sister was about to shoot the family hours before a family court hearing. Before the man could shoot, the girl was being told to “run save herself”, and so she went to her father who is living about 500 yards away. Neighbors had only heard recently that the relationship between the mother  and her husband did not go to well and they thought the mother exaggerated. Only when they heard the police shouting that they were surrounded, they understood that it was serious. However, it was too late.

Comment

Sad story. It is unbelievable that a man could murder his own daughter (and wife). A shame that neighbors did not take the matter too seriously at first. I don’t get, however, why the mother stayed with the man if she knew that their relationship was only growing worse. She warned her neighbors about it, but she stayed in an environment unsafe for her and her children. Very irresponsible. The good thing is that she could at least save one child from the massacre. 

Google has become political tool between the US and China.

Source

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/8558665/China-threatens-Google-over-hacking-claims.html

Summary

Google is seen as a “political tool” between the US and China. This was announced on the front page of a Chinese newspaper. Google discovered that hundreds of passwords of Gmail holders had been stolen, including the US government officials. Chinese journalists claim that Google blamed the Chinese government and they think it is unacceptable. China wants Google to stop suggesting that Chinese spies have been hacking the emails of the United States’ officials. If Google refuses to do so, its businesses could suffer, is what the Chinese newspaper said. As a result of this, Google closed down its servers based in China.

Comment

I have no idea what to think of this. Hacking of Google email has been happening for ages. Apparently, Google accounts are very easy to get into. I wonder if there’s more going on except for ‘blaming’ each other and blah-blah. The Chinese government seems to be very serious about it, and I wonder what the threatening is good for. No one cares about the accounts of ‘ordinary’ people, it’s probably once again about government secrets, money and power. I’d say: whatever.

Terrorism in the UK begins at universities

Source

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8558499/Universities-complacent-over-Islamic-radicals-Theresa-May-warns.html

Summary

It is said that British universities do not do enough to prevent radicalization on their campuses. Mrs May think that the conspiracy among Islamic groups within the campuses are not controlled good enough. According to her, the problem is that universities don’t take the consequences too seriously. Extreme organizations or organizations that support extremism within universities should not be part of the grouping.  The head of universities UK claimed that extremist speakers did not encourage violence and therefore there was no problem. However, Mrs May still believes that everyone who is part of the British society should help to prevent the radicalization before a terrorist activity occurs. She encourages people to actively talk to the police.

Comment

Hahaha. Mrs May probably thinks that a group of Islamic students spending time together means that they are preparing to place a bomb on the British dynasty. I do understand her in some way, since the news keeps on telling us what we should be afraid of. There has a lot been going on regarding Islamic extremism and terrorism, but May is obviously making a fuss for no reason. It is somewhat rude towards Islamic students to suspect them from being extremists, whether they do form groups with Islamic students only or not, it doesn’t mean anything. Should we suspect a group of British students of being skinheads? If we have to suspect every ‘threatening’ group that has appeared in the news, we could better give up on our own lives.

Church collecting money for those who will have to pay their bills until the very end.

Source

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1387570/Pupil-sues-school-750-custard-spilt-arm-compensation-culture-spreads-classrooms.html

Summary

Father and mother of the Haddad family gave up their jobs two years ago, because they knew that the world was coming to its end on the 21^st of may 2011. In a last ditch effort, they took their children to a New York street fair to spread the word about the disaster that they believe will happen at 6pm local time. No major incidents have been reported so far, but two earthquakes of magnitudes over 2.5 were reported shortly after 6pm local time at Christmas Island. Also a 4.8 earthquake hit the Solomon islands region and the Hawaii area around that time. People forget, however, that usually 30 to 40 earthquakes measuring every day worldwide. Before time reaches 6pm in the west, people are still trying to spread the world on the streets, praying aloud and churches are collecting money. What will happen with the money after the world ended, is unclear. It is said that the money is for those who will survive the Armageddon and still have to pay bills up to the very end.

Comment

What was literally said about what will happen with the money after the world ended is the following: 'If we have any money left, and we will because we have to pay bills up to the very end... it will all be destroyed because the world will be in a day of judgment. The money is not important at all. It's a vehicle to spread the judgment and a vehicle of the Lord.'

If they think that money will be destroyed anyway, then why are they claiming money (once again)? For me it looks like an everlasting circle of ups and downs (think of when Christians/Catholics were claiming money from the poor back in the medieval times). Still thinking about the one and only evil thing in the world: money. It seems like no one will ever learn. I have no idea if anything is going to happen today, but I truly HOPE it will. Destruction of the system and ignorant people for instance. I’m really excited! 

(Sorry if my interpretation is too much, but it is a personal comment after all...)

Online retailer takes your old electronics in exchange for gift cards.

Source

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/major-online-retailer-lets-you-trade-in-your-old-electronics-for-gift-cards-2286791.html

Summary

Amazon announced that it is now possible to trade your old electronics for gift cards or cash. This new Trade-In store enables people - who update their electronic devices within a short period of time in order to hang onto fast advancing technology – to find out how much their obsolete devices are worth. Customers can easily put all of their unwanted devices in a box, print off a shipping label and the only thing that is left to do is waiting for their virtual giftcards to arrive in their Amazon account. Other retailers, like Ebay, have also been using this trading system, which is as well a great success.

Comment

Not a bad idea at all. A lot of people tend to buy new electronic devices every time there is something new in stores. What happens is that they find themselves with loads of ‘obsolete’ goods, which is no longer used. However, parts of it can be recycled and used for new devices. Customers can make some extra money out of their old stuff, which is not bad either. It is a win-win.

Chinese laughing at ban on smoking in public spaces

Source

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/01/china-bans-smoking-without-penalty

Summary

Smoking in indoor public spaces is no longer legal in China. The ban was introduced to reduce the number of smokers in China and protect their health. Many people, however, believe that the ban will not help much, since roughly half of the Chinese population smokes. Also, 10% of the country’s revenues comes from the tobacco industry. Anti-smoking campaigner says that it will take a long time before the ban will prove any effects. Other measures should therefore be taken, like pictures on packets that show the effects of smoking, which might terrify people and help them quit. Although the ban is made clear with ‘No Smoking’ signs in public spaces, it is not uncommon to find ashtrays in places where smoking was supposedly banned. There is no penalty anyway.

Comment

The idea is certainly a good one, but I don’t see why there is no penalty. It is not going to work if people know that they can just smoke and get away with it. The ban was introduced to protect the people’s health, but people still smoke in hospital waiting rooms… how ironic. I don’t smoke myself, but I know that terrifying texts or pictures on the packets won’t help either. People don’t even notice them. A ban on smoking in public spaces is a good start and I believe that it indeed protects the health of non-smokers. However, in the end it is up to the smoker himself whether to quit or not. You cannot just make them.

5th blog entry: stressful profession can lead to suicide

Source

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/apr/25/stress-drives-teachers-out-of-schools

Summary

Research found that teaching is one of the most stressful possessions. More and more teachers consider themselves highly stressed. This became clear on a teacher union conference in Harrogate, where teachers admitted that they can hardly bear the stress. In some cases stress even leads to suicide or violence towards pupils. Due to stress, many teachers are driven out of the profession. The main source of the problem has to do with the teachers’ workload, which is too high. This could be reduced by taking a bit of the burden of planning and assessment on teachers away.

Comment

I feel sorry for teachers that are in a stress-situation like this. I totally understand that pupils are not the easiest to deal with. They need a lot of attention and this causes a lot of energy. Teachers should stop on time, before they are no longer able to keep themselves under control. Pupils won’t take the problem too seriously, therefore other teacher should keep an eye on their colleagues. The government should look for serious solutions as well, because the increasing numbers of teachers out of this profession or being unfit for work has even more consequences for the country.