Good Friday, Bus Rides, and Immigration

I read two articles on this last day for me. It is Good Friday, the day Christians remember Jesus' death.
The first article was about a study done on the youth of London who have been given free bus cards. Apparently two social groups, the 12-18 year olds and people over 60 have been given free bus passes in London. There have been two studies, one on the older group and one on the younger group in order to see how the free transportation has changed the lives of the groups. Both studies seem to report positively, the youth are showing more signs of independence, feelings of belonging to London, and social connection. The article suggested that free bus passes be taken off the list of things which could be cut in budget cuts because of the numerous benefits.
The second article I read this morning was about the language used in immigration debates. I am not surprised to find out that the language used in immigration debates has consequences for people at the time and farther down the road. To quote an old play, "The pen is mightier than the sword." Even though we know how much language defines our worlds and reality, we forget how much it can hurt us. I think the language used in the leaked Obama bill of 'legal prospective immigrant' definitely puts a positive spin on the situation. I think the situation could use more positivity and compassion. The language has been very negative and very divisive so far. Hopefully, the language can be turned around to be more inclusive and not make the real problem look like someone else's problem. Most of us in the United States are descendants of immigrants anyway.

No! That's my water!

Water Security
The article on science blog the last few days about water security highlights the fact that international work on global water security cannot really be done without some real and agreed upon definition of what water security is. The UN has proposed the following definition in hopes to begin work on water security and include water security to be a large focus on the Sustainable Development Goals which will succeed the Millennium Development Goals when they finish in 2015. “The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of and acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability.”
Water security, and insecurity, is something which I have long wondered about. My personal political conflict expert, my grad student boyfriend, has told me that water is not the basis for any conflict in the political sphere. However, I have always thought, meaning someone/thing told me a long time ago, that water was something political conflict was around. The article states, "Water insecurity, therefore, leads to cascading political, social, economic and environmental consequences, the brief says." The brief being what the UN-Water people put out. The article also cites the Pacific Institute's Water Project which has been studying water security and political conflict since the 80's. I am curious where my Latro is getting his research on water and conflict and will have to ask him. 

What do you think? Do water resources incite conflict? 

Computer Competition!

http://cancerincytes.scienceblog.com/2013/03/09/using-computers-to-prevent-human-rights-violations/

For someone who is dating an international conflict stats graduate student and best friends with a computer programmer, this article seemed very intriguing. It seems it is more of an announcement of a competition. The competition is giving prizes for computer models and other things working to prevent mass genocide, rape, cleansing, and so forth. The mission is a very laudable one and we can hope that humanity can one day move away from ever wanting to try such things on each other. As a strong Christian, I believe that we should all work to love and be loyal to each other. In the terms of science, if we are all interconnected, then killing or hurting large populations will change you. Not really any way around that. And truly, what would your mother say?

The site of the challenge is here: http://thetechchallenge.org/