Cotabato Prison, Philippines, one of world's toughest prisons..

The other day I was going through a documentary from Free Documentary on the Internet. I have never closely understood how prisons work or what goes through the prisoner's minds.

This is the story of Cotabato prison in Philippines. In a space of 2 buildings designed to accommodate just 600 prisoners, these are not hard core convicted ones, they are standing trial for crime, yet to be punished, about 1600 prisoners cram.

Cotabato prison, Philippines, Free Documentary

Click here to watch the 45 min documentary ..

In any prison we are likely to find many innocents too who get caught in the cross fire and get arrested by the Police just on suspicion. If we take about 30% are of that category and the rest are yet to be charged, without understanding the motive, the injustice being meted out tio these people is indeed beyond words.

The sad part is to understand that almost all of them are in their thirties or forties,, barley few in their fifties or more. The best productive part of their lives is being spent in these horrible conditions.

My first experience of prison life happened just once when as a young student in the Govt. College of Engineering, Trivandrum, from the church, as a youngster group during Christmas time, we got permission to visit the Poojapura jail, on the outskirts of Trivandrum city, where we went to spread the cheer of New year during the New Year of 1985. A rare experience, which most of my colleagues and friends have never had and would never wish to. Kerala prisons do not have the issue of overcrowding. Imagine having to share the prison room with 6 - 8 other criminals or suspects ..

It was Kiran Bedi, IPS, now Governor of Pondicherry who is credited with bringing great jail rreorms or changes in the country's top and notorious Tihar jail in Delhi around the nineties. It was remarkable and commendable. She was awarde the Magsaysay prize for that. 

Overcrowding at prisons .. Aljazeera

Most of the freedom fighters during the Indian freedom struggle have been jailed and the most important of it I would say is Jawaharlala Nehru who unfortunately was jailed for almost ten years. But not losing hope, Nehru went into writing inside the prison and some of this best writings have come out of his prison stay, like Letters to a Daughter, Discovery of India and so on.

Being jailed for protesting against injustice meted out to the people in the name of racism, for just protesting and for no fault , even for upto 29 years, like in the case of Nelson mandela is the other sad part of jail stay.

Besides losing hope, the psychological strain on the human mind is very shocking,. Drug related crime, I find, is responsible for maximum prison sentences around the world. Impoverished upbringing without love and care is responsible for making many of the convicts to turn to hard-core criminals. 

Creatively using the inmates and their energy within the prison to produce creative things is a creative way of using the time of the prison inmates. The revenue from the work is returned to the inmates at the time of their finishing their prison sentences. Poojapura jail inmates in Trivandrum make chappathies and sell to the city hotels, they also make Covid PPE in the jail and sell the medical shops and hiospitals across the state.

Kiran Bedi, 1994, Magsaysay award

The Psychological distress these prisoners bear is very heart breaking. Due to the gravity of the crime they have committed, it is not safe for society to allow them to get back to mainstream soon enough, they are a constant threat to society.

In my opinion, political prisoners should be treated differently from other prisoners.

Lets hope in the coming days we get to respect the human rights and offer them to prisoners in prison, even though they have infringed upon the human rights of someone else that has brought them to jail.

Prison reforms are needed.

George..

Were we over-indulgent and over-exploiting world resources ?

Why did a virus suddenly hit the world from the beginning of this year , 2020 ?

Even though we knew that the resources and life on planet earth were limited, in our ever increasing appetite to exploit mineral, oil and energy resources, we scoured all around the planet and identified pockets of concentration of critical and vital raw materials.

The innovation in processes and materials brought in more exotic materials to the limelight and to maximise the utilisation of these innovative materials or combination of materials, we over exploited the natural resources even more.

With the ever increasing threat of global population staring at our face, from 6 billion at the turn of the century to 10 billion by 2050, we are facing the daunting task of having more mouths to feed. Can we aim to feed all these mouths at the pace at which we are growing now ?

Was the Covid outbreak but a natural reaction to the over stress Mother Earth was experiencing since 2010, when the population grew to 7 billion at the turn of that decade and expected to touch 7.8 billion by end of 2020 ?

This planet earth where we co-exist with all other flora and fauna was exploited beyond it's capabilities. This led to a breakdown in the services offered.

An overtly materialistic society which exploited natural resources beyond the capability of restoration by nature led to imbalances and cracks in the ecosystem. This would have led to the progression of certain ecological processes that led to the disturbance of the ecological balance.

Here we are 6 months into the progression of the virus, with no end in sight. It may go into 2021 or into 2022, but the system is really going for a change.

The world will not be the same ever again.

George..

Covid 19 fever - indications . .

Share please

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COVID-19 is the daily body condition of a person with an infection. To your attention!

1 to 3 days:

1. Symptoms similar to colds.

2. Sore throat.

3. No fever, no fatigue, no general appetite.

Day 4:

1. Sore throat and body aches.

2. Sound rough.

Body temperature is 36.5 ° C.

4. Reduces appetite.

5. Mild headache.

6. Minor diarrhea or indigestion.

Day 5:

1. Sore throat, rough voice.

2. Mild fever, 36.5 to 36.7⁰C

3. Weak body and joint pain.

Day 6:

1. Mild fever, about 37 ° C.

2. Cough with mucus or dry cough.

3. Sore throat when eating, talking, or swallowing.

4. Fatigue and nausea.

5. Difficulty breathing frequently.

6. Pain in fingers

7. Diarrhea and vomiting.

Day 7:

1. High fever between 37.4-37.8⁰C.

2. Cough with sputum.

3. Body aches and headaches.

4. Diarrhea is more severe.

5. vomiting.

Day 8:

1. Fever at 38 ° C or higher.

2. Shortness of breath, chest weight.

3. Persistent cough.

4. Headache, joint pain and pelvic pain.

Day 9:

1. Symptoms worsen.

2. The fever is high.

3. Cough more persistent, more severe.

4. Breathing is difficult and laborious.

At this time, blood tests and x-ray examination of the lungs are required.

Forward this message.

Please be careful on this issue .

Wear mask, clean hygiene, wash hands with care, avoid crowds and cancel trips.

Please ...please ...please♥️♥️

Temika Mallory's fiery speech to America ..

What a fiery young lady !! 

Temika Mallory, the activist against racism
 is very much true .. The whites looted and killed native Americans, the original owners of North America, from 400 years back, reducing them from 75 million to barely less than 5 million now.. 

The descendants of the black people brought in as slaves from Africa, exploited and used for centuries, have all right to object against the treatment meted out to them. 

The opportunities for the blacks are grabbed by the whites and other ignorant, helpless immigrant communities, pushing the blacks to perpetual penury, poverty and lower academic achievements, denying them the right to climb higher in the social ladder.

Social inclusion in all walks of life is the only solution, including providing more educational opportunities to the blacks.

Click here for the link ..

Let's hope the whites take the lead and hold the blacks and native Americans by the hand and jointly maŕch forward as brothers to a bright future for that country..👍👌

Let human justice prevail, not white justice..

George..

Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia ..

*Uyuni Salt Flat (Salar de Uyuni)* Salt pan in Bolivia

Description : Salar de Uyuni, amid the Andes in southwest Bolivia, South America, is the world’s largest salt flat. 

Click here for a video ..

It’s the legacy of a prehistoric lake, 46,000 years old, that went dry, leaving behind a desertlike, nearly 11,000 sq.-km. landscape of bright-white salt ( *3 times area of Goa* ), rock formations and cacti-studded islands. 

A few metres depth of salt crust covers 130 metres deep salt brine underneath which houses 50-70% of the world's Lithium reserves.

Its otherworldly expanse can be observed from central Incahuasi Island. Though wildlife is rare in this unique ecosystem, it harbors many pink flamingos.

Just after rains, a small layer of dead calm water over this 46,000 years old salt plains, makes it the world's largest mirror, 129 kms across.

While a Tour de France champion cyclist would cross this 130km wide salt flats in under 4 hours, an average cyclist can take anywhere from 12 - 18 hours to cross it.

Age : 40,000 - 46,000 years 

Elevation: 3,663 m 

Area: 10,582 km²

*Depth: 130 m*

Location: Daniel Campos Province, Potosí Department

*Formed by: Evaporation*

Covid Lockdown collage - thoughtful ..

Here is a collage of lockdown pics that convey a lot of message for posterity - 

• exposing the helplessness of religions and religious leaders,
• animals enjoying picnic, 
• the abandonment of Mecca and Gateway of India, 
• the plight of people migrating in Delhi and UP, 
• row of coffins in Italy exporing the grief and the folly of unpreparedness, 
• people waiting in queues with social distancing in Bangalore, 
• nature taking a whiff of fresh breath - Bangalore and Nepal, Mt. Everest.. 🙂🙂

George 

1900 to 2020 in the global war perspective ..

(From the Internet, I found this analysis exciting..,)

For a small amount of perspective at this moment, imagine you were born in 1900.

 When you are 14, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday with 22 million people killed. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until you are 20. Fifty million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million. 

When you're 29, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, global GDP drops 27%. 

That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy. 

When you turn 39, World War II starts. You aren’t even over the hill yet.  When you're 41, the United States is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war and the Holocaust kills six million. 

At 52, the Korean War starts and five million perish. 

At 64 the Vietnam War begins, and it doesn’t end for many years. Four million people die in that conflict. 

Approaching your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, could well have ended. Great leaders prevented that from happening. 

As you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends. 

Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How do you survive all of that? 

A kid in 1985 didn’t think their 85 year old grandparent understood how hard school was. Yet those grandparents (and now great grandparents) survived through everything listed above.

Perspective is an amazing art. Let’s try and keep things in perspective. Let’s be smart, help each other out, and we will get through all of this.” In the history of the world, there has never been a storm that lasted. This too, shall pass.....

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Interesting, 👍👍 however out of interest and curiosity, added these events post 1990 to the perspective .. (if incomplete, pl point out .. ) ..

1. '90 Gulf war which saw 383 US deaths and over 100,000 Iraqi deaths

2. WTC bombing, NY '93, app. 3000 US citizens dead

3. Afghan war '01, 5500 US deaths and 92,000 Afghan deaths and still counting 

4. Iraq war '03, 4430 US deaths and 2,80 000 Iraqi deaths ... 😥😥😥😥

Sadly, US has been involved in almost all global combats over the past 70 years since WW2. 

The dropping of 2 atom bombs (Little boy and Fat man over Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively) killed between 1,30,000 and 2,30,000 civilians in the 2 Japanese cities.

The 1947 India Pakistan partition led to another 200,000 to 2 million perishing in both countries.  - upper limit ..

The '80 - '88 Iran Iraq war resulted in 500,000 to a million deaths in both sides , with no victor, no loser, no war reparations,  no border changes , only an economic loss of a trillion dollars.. 😳😳

While 1.7 billion (1,700,000,000) people inhabited the earth in 1900, now it is about 7.8 billion  (7,800,000,000), an increase of 6,100,000,000 (6.1 billion) people, global population growing at a compounded rate of 1.25% annually .. 🙂🙂

George..