Poor and Rich - The Facts

DEFINING POVERTY...

Absolute poverty is defined according to an absolute minimum standard, often called the ‘poverty line’. Relative poverty means that you are poor in relation to those around you. Income poverty (‘less than a dollar a day’, for example), means that you are poor if you have less money than the defined poverty line for your country. Human poverty takes into account other factors, such as life expectancy, infant malnutrition, illiteracy and lack of food or clean water. Basic needs definitions also go beyond money, to include all the things that a person needs in order to survive – including employment and participation in society.

MEASURING POVERTY...

Measuring poverty is always a problem, especially if you recognize that just using money is not enough. There are a number of new measurements emerging, like the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare.¹ This measures ‘quality’ economic activity by, for example, making a subtraction for air pollution and an addition for unpaid household labour.

Another method is the Human Poverty Index. This is ranked according to three main areas of deprivation: survival; knowledge and a decent standard of living. In the industrial world, where the Index also includes social exclusion, some 7 to 17% of the populations are classified as poor. The higher the percentage figure, the greater the poverty in that country. read more

Save our seabirds

Save our seabirds
Originally uploaded by i b u

Ibu, wonderful photo and your point is well taken. The birds and all native creatures and plants are important parts of the Maldives ecosystem. The loss of one can creature or plant mean disruption to others that depended on it, for food, for materials, or for control. It is important to learn about our ecosystem and protect it."

Day in Hulhumale'- 07-03-08

BARBIE, that plastic icon of girlhood fantasy play, is routinely tortured by children, research has found.

The methods of mutilation are varied and creative, ranging from scalping to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving, according to academics from the University of Bath.

The findings were revealed as part of an in-depth look by psychologists and management academics into the role of brands among 7 to 11-year-old schoolchildren.

The researchers had not intended to focus on Barbie, but they were taken aback by the rejection, hatred and violence she provoked when they asked the children about their feelings for the doll.

Violence and torture against Barbie were repeatedly reported across age, school and gender. No other toy or brand name provoked such a negative response. read more

National Geography

Flickr front page on 2008/02/27

Copyright © 2004 & 2007 Ibrahim Mohamed! Inc. All rights reserved.e-mail:ibumohd@gmail.com

Love on the Vox

Huge congratulations to Voxers Miss Scotch and Papi Chulo who recently got engaged. These two have been around from the very beginnings of Vox, as Papi Chulo (a.k.a. Steve) is a member of Team Vox and Miss Scotch was one of Vox's original beta testers from way back in 2006. So it was only natural for the both of them to document their engagement story here on Vox!

The first announcement came from Papi Chulo, via a mobile post straight from the scene. He snapped a photo of Miss Scotch and sent it to his Vox blog in seconds, letting all his friends and family know the good news right away. A picture's worth a thousand words, indeed. Doesn't she look ecstatic?

Then Miss Scotch updated us with her side of the story, recounting how he popped the question and calling it the happiest moment of her life so far.

A little while later, Papi Chulo posted his version of the engagement story too. He pointed out highlights of their weekend and also speculated on the worldwide benefits reaped from their union.

Altogether their posts and photos have collected nearly 200 comments so far. Feel free to stop by and add your thoughts and well wishes. Congratulations and best of luck to the happy couple! read more