The General Paper

Archive for the ‘Geography’ Category

Facts from the UN’s HDR 2007/2008

Posted by: gimster on: February 25, 2008

The following are ‘Global Political, Economic, and Social Facts’ extracted from the UN’s Human Development Report 2007/2008 by the Infoplease website.

In the last two decades, political and civil rights have improved substantially throughout the [...]

The Story of Stuff

Posted by: gimster on: January 1, 2008

This website was made known to me by Mr James Ho.
3 teaser videos:

You can download the whole video (about 20 minutes) to view offline, but you’d lose the interactive features that you get when you view the video on the website itself.
Good Oral [...]

An Inconvenient Truth

Posted by: gimster on: July 3, 2007

Have you seen the Oscar-winning documentary?
Read the range of reviews and user’s comments at metacritic.com
Check out the film’s website
While watching the movie (three times and counting), I drew this mind map:
which I exported in PDF format
and Jpeg,
using Freemind
Let me know if you want the mind map in the freemind format so [...]

18 April was the inaugural Bring Your Own Bag Day

Posted by: gimster on: April 19, 2007

… in Singapore.
The Straits Times, April 19 2007, calls it ‘a promising start’:

Singapore uses about 2.5 billion plastic bags a year – or about 625 bags per person each year. Laid out on the ground, the total number would cover more than 10,000 soccer fields.
Singapore incinerates the bulk of its plastic bags so [...]

Recycling

Posted by: gimster on: April 10, 2007

For the question:
How far is recycling the answer to the problem of waste?

Click on the image above to see the mindmap in full size.
Sources: Wikipedia articles

Recycling
Waste hierarchy
Waste management
Recycling criticism

See also:

This page on Recycling and Waste, by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK

Recycling in Singapore:

Singapore’s inaugural recycling day on 21 November 2004 (National [...]

22 May is International Day for Biological Diversity

Posted by: gimster on: May 20, 2006

Yet another instance of international observance, in this case under the ambit of the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Day for Biological Diversity falls on 22 May. For a well structured report on Biodiversity that effectively exploits the power of hypertext, see this page.
Incidentally, the European Commision is observing Green Week two weeks from [...]

Cartoons as snapshots of today’s issues

Posted by: gimster on: May 7, 2006

Using editorial cartoons to teach and learn GP or current affairs is not new, but I just stumbled upon a new, and probably quality and enduring, source. Here's a sample of two cartoons for the source:

Policy implications of population ageing: Online references

Posted by: gimster on: April 16, 2006

General resources
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Ageing and Employment Policies. http://www.oecd.org/document/18/0,2340,en_2649_34747_27765586_1_1_1_1,00.html
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan. Definition of Social Security. http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/wp/wp-hw/vol1/p1c1s2.html
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan. Social Security Systems in European Countries. http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/wp/wp-hw/vol2/p1c1.html
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan. Social Security Systems in Asian and Oceanian Countries. http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/wp/wp-hw/vol2/p1c2.html
Ministry of Health, Labour and [...]

Birth demographics

Posted by: gimster on: April 14, 2006

Discussion of population ageing often involves references to birth rates. This post aims to clarify some important concepts related to birth demographics.
Here's map showing the natality rate in each country:

Click on the map to view it at full size at its source.
Some notes on the map:

'A' in the map legend means 'to' in Italian.
'Birth rate' [...]

Eschatology: Apocalypse sometime soon?

Posted by: gimster on: April 5, 2006

apocalypse n.
2b. Armageddon; the site or time of a final and conclusive battle between the forces of good and evil
(Source)
kingdom come n. Informal
1. The next world: a bomb that could blow us to kingdom come.
2. The end of time: You can complain till kingdom come, but it won't help.
[From the phrase thy [...]

The paradox of hunger and growth in Asia

Posted by: gimster on: March 22, 2006

The latest issue of TIME contains an advertisement by the United Nations World Food Programme comprising a powerful image of a fork and a spoon placed left and right of a scummy puddle on muddy ground (which unfortunately I was unable to find on the Web to link here) and the sobering revelation that ‘Asia may have [...]

Failure of leadership? – Undermining transparency

Posted by: gimster on: March 20, 2006

‘Video shows Bush got explicit Katrina warning – President, Chertoff were clearly told of storm’s dangers numerous times’ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11627394/

‘Is an ageing population necessarily a bad thing?’

Posted by: gimster on: March 15, 2006

The bulk of discussion with regards to an ageing population frames the phenomenon as a problem, especially in terms of costs. The above question challenges the student to show their understanding of these supposed problems and explore possible benefits of an ageing population. There's a glut of literature available on the problems compared to the [...]

Morbid: Death tolls

Posted by: gimster on: March 10, 2006

Extracted from Wikipedia
The Top 10 for each subcategory of deaths caused by humans
War and military action
These figures include deaths of civilians from diseases, famine, and atrocities as well as deaths of soldiers in battle.

62,000,000 – World War II (1937–1945), (see World War II casualties)
36,000,000 – An Lushan Rebellion (756–763)
30,000,000–60,000,000 – Mongol Conquests (13th century)
25,000,000 – [...]

World population hits 6.5 billion – LiveScience – MSNBC.com

Posted by: gimster on: March 8, 2006

World population hits 6.5 billion – LiveScience – MSNBC.com
Will have to use that figure in future essays…



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