Simple Sparrow

Super volcano scare

BBC had a news article talking about a possible super volcano and that more activity is happening at the yellowstone national park in the united states. If you don't know what a super volcano is then you should visit the wikipedia page that says there are 7 known super volcanoes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supervolcano

Well many documentaries have been made in the past 10 years to talk about Yellowstone being the next super volcano and that it occurs once every 650,000 to 700,000 years and it hasn't gone off in 630,000 years. If one does go off it seems it will wipe out most of the animals living in north america. 

Soap price fixing?

Who knew you could rig the price of soap but now that Unilever and Procter & Gamble have been caught and given a massive fine, it makes you wonder if more of this activity is happening around the world. So how large is the fine? About 315 million euros! or at the current exchange rate of $456 million USD!!!

Now the real question is this, if these companies are being fined for causing consumers to pay more for their product will the fine collected go back to the consumer? It sounds like the answer is probably no and who knows if this money will now end up in the pockets of politicians.

So these are just 2 companies who have been caught and it makes you wonder about the price of oil as well. There is no shortage of supply yet these magical crisis events around the world it seems like when Lady Gaga farts that it is another cause for the price of oil. Unrest in the middle east? Yes we have to increase the price of oil there because ... of uncertainty... yes we are very uncertain so we need to increase the price.

Gbagbo arrested in Ivory Coast

It appeared that Ivory Coast was on the verge of a civil war with the former President Laurent Gbagbo looking to walk over their own people to hold onto power over the people. The elections appeared to show that rival Alassane Ouattara had won a fair election but Gbagbo and his people were looking to cover this up and it seemed at one point that Mr. Ouattara might have been in risk of being assassinated as his hotel complex was being attacked. Surely events like this are only going to cripple the people in Ivory Coast and one has to wonder who holds the real power in this country and will the cycle of corruption continue to hold their own people prisoners?

The price of chocolate and cocoa has gone up as a result as a lot of cocoa is produced in the Ivory Coast. Back in December international football star Didier Drogba called for peace saying the unrest was going to cost lives and more.

Either way you look at it, some damage has been done but hopefully for the people of Ivory Coast they can move forward to the future and not a step backwards.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13056546

Thats a wrap, fines in France for veils

It is hard to say if France is moving forward or backwards in their ban of veils. Fines of 150 euros are given out if women are wearing in and can be asked to remove by police. What is more intense is that if people force others to wear the veil they can be jailed for up to 2 years.

Islam is the #2 religion in France and at this rate it could be the #1 religion in the next 20 years. What happens in France may have an effect throughout the rest of the world in non muslum countries where Muslums live their lives as if they were in their homelands.

Nobody knows if there will be any backlashes or significant challenges to this law but the French people don't seem to be complaining. The truth is this religion will divide France and create even more tension and separation from Muslums and the rest of the French population. France wants immigrants to adapt to the country and not the other way around.