Re: Malaria

Every year, thousands of children, especially in Africa, die from a mosquitoe bite. Now, that may not sound like much, but when a mosquitoe carries the deadly disease of malaria, it becomes a serious issue. For many years, scientists have tried to come up with an inexpensive way to protect people from this dangerous disease. Similar to the March of Dimes or the collection of pennies for Unicef, people have started to make ten dollar donations to buy a mosquitoe net for people in Africa. Larger, more wealthy organizations, such as the National Basketball Association or American Idol, are giving millions of dollars to help with a simple solution for this disasterous disease. So far, "Nothing But Nets" is a donation organization that has raised over $20 million. Although many efforts are being made to help fight this disease, a child dies every 30 seconds from malaria, which comes out to be about 2 million deaths a year. Even children as young as 7 years old are organizing small fund raisers, which I think is a very good thing for people affected or not affected, because it creates a sense of urgency to help pressure people to help others. I believe that a net, although not large in stature, can make a significant impact on one's life.

Cell Phone Novels

Recently, the authors of traditional novels have not been selling many books. Many experts believe that, because of the tremendous outburst of technology, people are able to access the most famous novels on their cell phones. 5 out of 10 best selling novels have been about cell phones, and this is no coincidence. Many people have turned away from

Yahoo's Troubles

Jerry Yang, the Chief Executive of Yahoo, is trying to make some serious reforms in his company. Over the last couple of years, Yahoo's lead in viewers has been rapidly reduced by Google from 22 million to 5 million viewers. This, Yang believes, is because Yahoo has been a static website since its beginning, encompassing the same aspects as it did several years ago. Said Jerry Yang, "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint youy. It's still the same old face. I've been around since the beginning."

Now that this new "phenom" of a webpage, Facebook, has entered the picture, the competition level has been rising very quickly. Mark Zuckerberg, the 23 year old founder and CEO of Facebook is developing a socially interactive website that connects people from across the world. Yahoo has tried to create similar things, such as Yahoo 360 and myYahoo, but it can't stand up to Facebook or even iGoogle.

The support from Yahoo's stockholders has rapidly decreased, and many analysts say that, if no changes are made within a year, Yahoo will not exist as a major competitor in the world of webpages. Liz Lufkin, who directs the designing of the Yahoo homepage, is also in serious trouble because she believes that Yahoo will need to use more modern web design tactics, and if they don't, then she will lose her job. As the internet grows, the struggle for survival keeps increasing.

Sources of Creativity

Many artists, like Van Gogh and Picasso, have found their creativity in very strange places. Although I am no Picasso, I also find my inspiration for creativity in different places. One example of this could be the different sports I play. When I am in a natural environment, I can sense the natural colors that surround me. Many people, I believe, would agree with me in this. Although it is hard to explain, I believe that nature is the best cultivator for the mind.

2007 Frustration

The past year of 2007 was very fun and frustrating for many reasons. First of all, creating a webpage is no easy task. I did not realize that there was an entire code specifically designated for making webpages. Once I found this out, I realized that there can be more detailed aspects within the webpage. These include the colors of the background and text, inserting tables, inserting pictures, moving objects, and many other things. Also, you can give certain commands on how you want to make your webpage layout to look. When I first saw the code on how to make a webpage, I thought I would never be able to do it. Now that I look back in retrospect, I see that it was not as hard as I first thought. I look forward to learning much more about making and designing webpages in this class!