We were invited to a birthday party for a 2 year old this weekend. What better opportunity to attempt making a tutu??!?? I've wanted to for a while, but this gave me a good reason, so here she is. Happy Birthday Madeline!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
I made a tutu
We were invited to a birthday party for a 2 year old this weekend. What better opportunity to attempt making a tutu??!?? I've wanted to for a while, but this gave me a good reason, so here she is. Happy Birthday Madeline!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Blood diamonds/Blood electronics??
Playstation 2 component incites African war
Console war reaches past the couch and into the Congo, claims report.
By Ben Silverman
Has the video game industry dug up its very own blood diamond?
According to a report by activist site Toward Freedom, for the past decade the search for a rare metal necessary in the manufacturing of Sony's Playstation 2 game console has fueled a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
At the center of the conflict is the unrefined metallic ore, coltan. After processing, coltan turns into a powder called tantalum, which is used extensively in a wealth of western electronic devices including cell phones, computers and, of course, game consoles.
Allegedly, the demand for coltan prompted Rwandan military groups and western mining companies to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the rare metal, often by forcing prisoners-of-war and even children to work in the country's coltan mines.
"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms," said Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King.
SEE PICS
So where's the connection to Sony? According to Toward Freedom, during the 2000 launch of the PS2, the electronics giant was having trouble meeting consumer demand. To pump out more units, Sony required a significant increase in the production of electric capacitors, which are primarily made with tantalum. This helped drive the world price of the powder from $49/pound to a whopping $275/pound, resulting in the frenzied scouring of the Congolese hills known for being ripe with coltan.
Sony has since sworn off using tantalum acquired from the Congo, claiming that current builds of the PS2, PSP and PS3 consoles are sourced from a variety of mines in several different countries.
But according to researcher David Barouski, they're hardly off the hook.
"SONY's PlayStation 2 launch...was a big part of the huge increase in demand for coltan that began in early 1999," he explained. "SONY and other companies like it, have the benefit of plausible deniability, because the coltan ore trades hands so many times from when it is mined to when SONY gets a processed product, that a company often has no idea where the original coltan ore came from, and frankly don't care to know. But statistical analysis shows it to be nearly inconceivable that SONY made all its PlayStations without using Congolese coltan."
Currently, the Playstation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all-time, having sold through over 140 million units.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This report breaks my heart. I hope more attention is brought to it and other sources for this material are quickly found or used. West Africa has a history of this specific kind of violence. Money equals power: American desires equals money. Must we keep stripping these countries of materials that we deem so important for frivality?? Children are being killed so that our children can rot in front of the tv and we can have instant communication. Do people realize that much of Africa doesnt even have telephone access? or even electricity???? We as a country are in a panic because we've spent too much on too big houses and vehicles so big that they could be used to fight a war and now we cant pay our bills. We should have learned our lessons when the truth about gold and Diamonds came out.. but now seriously.... video game consoles causing bloodshed. In REAL life. This is not an issue of "now we need to boycot sony." What needs to happen is the American concience needs a serious time out. At what cost should our comfort come? Thousands of people are losing their homes, but should they ever have been able to buy one in the first place? And what if they had purchased something more sensible? How many of us, including myself, have giant credit card debts that only grow? For what? Junk that ends up getting thrown away? Our need for "stuff" is growing. We need a reality check soon... before its too late.
Console war reaches past the couch and into the Congo, claims report.
By Ben Silverman
Has the video game industry dug up its very own blood diamond?
According to a report by activist site Toward Freedom, for the past decade the search for a rare metal necessary in the manufacturing of Sony's Playstation 2 game console has fueled a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
At the center of the conflict is the unrefined metallic ore, coltan. After processing, coltan turns into a powder called tantalum, which is used extensively in a wealth of western electronic devices including cell phones, computers and, of course, game consoles.
Allegedly, the demand for coltan prompted Rwandan military groups and western mining companies to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the rare metal, often by forcing prisoners-of-war and even children to work in the country's coltan mines.
"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms," said Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King.
SEE PICS
So where's the connection to Sony? According to Toward Freedom, during the 2000 launch of the PS2, the electronics giant was having trouble meeting consumer demand. To pump out more units, Sony required a significant increase in the production of electric capacitors, which are primarily made with tantalum. This helped drive the world price of the powder from $49/pound to a whopping $275/pound, resulting in the frenzied scouring of the Congolese hills known for being ripe with coltan.
Sony has since sworn off using tantalum acquired from the Congo, claiming that current builds of the PS2, PSP and PS3 consoles are sourced from a variety of mines in several different countries.
But according to researcher David Barouski, they're hardly off the hook.
"SONY's PlayStation 2 launch...was a big part of the huge increase in demand for coltan that began in early 1999," he explained. "SONY and other companies like it, have the benefit of plausible deniability, because the coltan ore trades hands so many times from when it is mined to when SONY gets a processed product, that a company often has no idea where the original coltan ore came from, and frankly don't care to know. But statistical analysis shows it to be nearly inconceivable that SONY made all its PlayStations without using Congolese coltan."
Currently, the Playstation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all-time, having sold through over 140 million units.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This report breaks my heart. I hope more attention is brought to it and other sources for this material are quickly found or used. West Africa has a history of this specific kind of violence. Money equals power: American desires equals money. Must we keep stripping these countries of materials that we deem so important for frivality?? Children are being killed so that our children can rot in front of the tv and we can have instant communication. Do people realize that much of Africa doesnt even have telephone access? or even electricity???? We as a country are in a panic because we've spent too much on too big houses and vehicles so big that they could be used to fight a war and now we cant pay our bills. We should have learned our lessons when the truth about gold and Diamonds came out.. but now seriously.... video game consoles causing bloodshed. In REAL life. This is not an issue of "now we need to boycot sony." What needs to happen is the American concience needs a serious time out. At what cost should our comfort come? Thousands of people are losing their homes, but should they ever have been able to buy one in the first place? And what if they had purchased something more sensible? How many of us, including myself, have giant credit card debts that only grow? For what? Junk that ends up getting thrown away? Our need for "stuff" is growing. We need a reality check soon... before its too late.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Welcome baby Aston!
Yesterday at 5:11 pm Lucas's sister Katherine gave birth to her second baby boy! Baby Aston James Jones was 8lbs,15 oz and beautiful, or so we have heard:-). Congratualations Katy we love you and we cant wait to meet him! (and super giant appologies if any of this info is wrong or if I misspelled his name!)
Here is a picture of big brother Larkin Todd taken a couple of years ago! Im sure this baby will be just as gorgeous!
Here is a picture of big brother Larkin Todd taken a couple of years ago! Im sure this baby will be just as gorgeous!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Birthday Extravagnaza
Today we celebrated B's very first birthday. We met with friends at the Lousiana Boardwalk for Carousel rides and and cajun carousel themed cupcakes. Then it was off to the pop jet fountain for some cold and wet refreshment! Here are a few of our favorite pictures of the day (so far).
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Blog vacation over
Today is my 27th birthday. This has been a huge year for us. A new baby, 6 months in my parents home, a new job and a new state! I feel very blessed as I look at my children and our home and that I'm here, at HOME. Lucas works very hard for us to have this and I am grateful. Tomorrow I start keeping a couple of little girls. I won't have them every day and usually I'll only have the little one, but I am excited to bring in a bit of extra money for our family! Their mom just had premie twins so this is an opportunity to make some extra money and feel out what its like to keep kiddos at home. I'm looking forward to it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)