After Exam Bash

Tired of the stresses of studying for exams, hoping that you make the grade? That's why Club Next is having a Wet n' Wild Rave on friday. be sure to be there.

Happy Mothers' Day

"Happy Mother's Day" means more
Than have a happy day.
Within those words lie lots of things
We never get to say.

It means I love you first of all,
Then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to me,
And that I honor you.

But most of all, I guess it means
That I am thinking of
Your happiness on this, your day,
With pleasure and with love.

News

On Sunday afternoon, a Ford minivan flipped at mile 46 on the Western Highway while heading to the National Agricultural and Trade Show.

9 people including at least four minors were in the van. Tonight, two young girls are hospitalized as a result. One of them, Aniqua Fisher is on a ventilator and we spoke to her mother:…

Jules Vasquez Reporting
Aniqua Fisher - seen her with her baby sister - had just celebrated her 10th. birthday when she asked her mom to go to the Agricultural Fair:

Curlet Bainton, Mother
"She ask me to go to the Agric Show. First I told that I didn't have enough money to send her and also I have a younger baby and I didn't want to take my younger baby out in the sun so my sister - 17 yr. old Krystal said that she is going and she can take her and my mom sent money for them to go. I didn't know that they were going to catch a ride with someone. I thought that they were going on the bus. They end up going with a lady and they all paid a $5 fee to go with this lady."

Shortly after the Ford Mini-van they were travelling in lost control at mile 46 and ran off the road - with 9 passengers inside. Her mother rushed to the Belmopan hospital to see her:

Curlet Bainton, Mother
"When I reach Belmopan - that was when I saw what happen to my daughter and it was a site that no mother should see. I don't think it's a nice site."

In these pictures Curlet shared with us her daughter had major injuries to her upper body:

Curlet Bainton, Mother
"She will recover but she will need some outside help to deal with the missing flesh from part of her neck and eventually her hair will grow back. She is stable but critical because she is under a machine that helps her breathe."

This mother is angry at the driver who she says was speeding:

Curlet Bainton, Mother
"I just wanted the driver of the vehicle - she said that I curse her but I didn't mean to curse at her but I was angry. I was angry to know that she was speeding and to know that she had kids in that van and she was speeding. That ticks me off. I am kind of upset and in a way I don't think I should be upset but I am upset, I am a mother and to know that I don't usually send my daughter with nobody if I am not there. It hurts, it hurts to know that my baby is laying down there, she could have died but thank God she didn't. It could have been worse and it just hurts."

My biggest concern about this is not that the child was hurt at the careless hands of another, but rather on the fact that this mother sent her child to the agri show in belmopan with her minor sister and did not know how in this world they would be getting to and from this show. Situations like these makes me overwhelmed that i have a  who is so protective and knows the value of my life.

A well needed rejuvenation

Perseverance is key!

My final year at St. John's College has been one of ups and downs, where I have learned more about myself and those who I consider friends. In completing my time at SJC, I have developed the strength and internal fortitude to cope with things that many young people my age do not have to. Of all these challenges, the one of which that has been difficult is dealing with a long distance relationship. Many of my peers both older and younger have been critical of my relationship, however through perseverance, good communication, and the will of god, I have managed to make it through. 

The real challenge of exams has approached, but I am now happy and re-energized that my boyfriend has returned. His return provides a source of strength, as I can go in exams knowing fully well that a part of my strength is here with me for love and support...

So bring it on final exams...my studying and the love of my family and boyfriend will get me through!!!

Quote of the Day

There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.

- John F. Kennedy

Quote of the day

Patience is a bitter plant but it has sweet fruit.

- Old proverb

facts about the human bones

Did you know that:

• the smallest bone in the human body is the stapes bone which is located in the ear.
• there are 54 bones in your hands including the wrists.
• the only bone fully grown at birth is located in the ear.
• the human face is made up of 14 bones.
• the chances of getting a cavity is higher if candy is eaten slowly throughout the day compared to eating it all at once and then brushing your teeth.
• if an identical twin grows up without having a certain tooth, the other twin will most likely also grow up with that tooth missing.
• humans are born with 300 bones in their body, however when a person reaches adulthood they only have 206 bones. this occurs because many of them join together to make a single bone.
• gardening is said to be one of the best exercise for maintaining healthy bones.
• enamel is the hardest substance in the human body.
• although the outsides of a bone are hard, they are generally light and soft inside. they are about 75% water.
• adult human bones account for 14% of the body's total weight.
• since 2000, babies are born with a tooth that is already slightly visible.
• fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster that toenails.
• the strongest bone in your body is the femur (thighbone) and it is hollow yet stronger than concrete.

20 Interesting Facts about Belize

1. Belize is one of the best places for shark viewing and some of the best times to go are during the raining season of April – July.

2. Belize has a rare breed of howler monkey that is known as one of the top ten loudest animals in the world
3. The locals in Belize have created some very unique names for its natural wonders including Owl eye butterfly, the Swallow Tail Cattle Heart Butterfly, and the Red Footed Booby Bird, and the False Vampire Bat.
4. Belize’s main source of revenue with almost 2 million visitors to this tiny Central American nation annually from around the world.
5. The average temperature for the coastal areas of Belize is between 79 to 89 degrees F
6. Belize has the only known jaguar preserve in the world it is located in the cockscomb Wildlife sanctuary
7. Belize is one of the richest Mayan history locations with over 900 historic locations.
8. Belize is roughly only 180 miles long and 68 miles wide at its main land
9. Belie has such a dense population it is one of the most populous in the world for its size
10. Outside the Belize mainland is one of the world’s natural reefs known as the Belize natural reefs with 200 separate islands.

11. The waters off Belize are known to inhabit more than 400 species of sub tropical fish
12. Gibnut is a famous cuisine in Belize it is actually a very popular rodent in Belize
13. One of the most popular places for home stays while traveling in Belize is in the Mayan village of Toledo
14. Belize has the most differentiated species of bird in Latin America over 500 locally
15. 2/3 of the Belizean natural forest is safe from exploitation due to strict government regulation
16. It is culturally rude to greet someone by their first name when meeting them for the first time in Belize.
17. Superstition on Good Friday prevents Belizean natives from swimming in lakes or the ocean during this time for if they do it will not provide good fortune
18. The national motto of Belize is “Under the Shade I flourish”
19. Local superstition folklore includes a 3 foot evil dwarf with no thumbs. It is referred to locally as el duende, it is known to hang out in the local forest and looks for kids who try to kill the local wildlife and punishes the,.
20. Typical Belizean lunch include tamales, meat pies, seafood, cassava or beans and fish.

Funny

Quote of the Day

Choose your friends and choose them well.
But to these friends no secret tell.
For when these friends become your foes,
Out into the world your secret goes.

Interesting Things

Oldest Women

Jeanne Louise Calment of Arles, France was the world's longest living person. Jeanne was born on February 21, 1875 and died on August 4, 1997. Her height was 4'11" (1.50m). Jeanne died at the age of 122 in a nursing home in Arles. She lived 122 years and 164 days (44,724 days total). Jeanne's name appears in the Guinness Book of World Records. At age 121, she released her two CDs, one in French and another in English titled, Maitresse du Temps (Time's Mistress). During the end stage, she became blind, she could not hear properly and was confined to a wheelchair but was in high spirits and mentally alert. Interesting fact is that Jeanne smoked cigarettes until the age of 117.


 

Seems like smoking isn't too bad for your health...

Quote of the Day

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." - Aristotle

Concert Tonight!!!

Melonie Gillett premiered her new music video a week ago and will launch her new album "Dreamer" tomorrow night with an all-star concert at the Bliss Center.
March 10th 2011

Cost is only $5 per person
Begins at 7
Numerous performances ant the Launch of Melonie Gillet's new CD (-.-)

Its a Female Thing

A couple were checking into a hotel with six huge carry-ons. The luggage boy hurries to their assistance.
luggage boy: good evening--- whoa! this is a lot of luggage for you two.
husband: it's a woman thing, only one of the carry-on is mine.
wife: it's not my fault, you wanted to stay in Belize for two weeks.

Question to the female readers, Would you honestly bring on vacation, for two weeks, 5 huge carry-on case?
Question to the male readers, Do women really carry more luggage than they need to? (Explain your view)

Economic Issues

Lately on the morning talk show i've been hearing people calling in to complain about the rise in gas. People are vexated that the Prime Minister will not lower the gas prices. And the fact people think that the Prime Minister of a third world country, very dependent on other countries, in debt, produces no absolutely unique goods and has little to no say in world bargaining, can control the prices of a trillion dollar industry. My Belizeans, educate yourselves, no politician can of this country can ensure lower gas prices; worse, can any government control it.

No Phone Zone

These days everyone's text messaging - and it seems like they're doing it all the time! And that even means while driving. You may or may not text behind the wheel, but many people do, and it is a widely ignored traffic offence. In fact, there's no law prohibiting you from talking or texting on your phone while behind the wheel.
So the practice continues, and from the perspective of one concerned father it's getting worse. John Brackett - who has children at Holy Redeemer Primary School on North Front Street - said he couldn't take it anymore so he staged a one man protest in front of the school this afternoon. He says he wants a no-phone zone.

Why hasn't the our government make cars a no phone zone, they are always looking for ways to tax people, why not set a law on something that matters. While driving, one needs full concentration in the traffic but people still find their ay to multi task. Sure talking on the phone while driving isn't that bad, if you're wearing an ear piece, but texting while driving, that's just disrespectful to the law and other civilians. Not only do you hold up traffic but you also run the risk of knocking someone down.... To avoid this from happening just make your cars a NO PHONE ZONE people.

No Game, No Pain

Last night we told you about the woes of the villagers in Double Head: three days before the Ruta Maya Canoe stops in their village for the first time, they were warned that selling game meat is illegal without a two thousand dollars license. The Forestry Department agreed to bring that license down to one hundred dollars for the weekend - but when villagers still complained at the sudden additional costs, something had to give…and tonight, we're happy to report that it's the ministry which did.
Chief Forestry Officer Wilbur Sabido today confirmed to 7news that in view of the circumstances his department has agreed to issue a temporary waiver to all handlers, hunters and dealers in game meat in the Double Head Area. The waiver, he tells us, will last for the entire long weekend.

The unfairness done to these people.... tsk, tsk, tsk Forestry department. The thing that bugs me is that the Forestry Department is placing a steep fee on the licenses for hunting game meat but made no fuss whatsoever when land was being reclaimed and the mangroves were being cut down down south. Quite unfair to pick on the people who are trying to make a little buck off game meat... At least they were a bit considerate of this weekend.

The Sandwich Theory

It is interesting to understand the logic of the opposite human species at school. Guys try to figure out how the minds of girls operate and vice versa. In a seating with friends (one male amongst several female) I learnt of a very stimulating theory: The Sandwich Theory. It stumbled across as one of my attractive female friends was telling the rest of us that the only male in the crowd called her an old stale sandwich. 

It wasn’t that she was offended by being called a sandwich, seeing that when one is hungry it is something to devour. She was insulted that he put the term “old stale” in front of sandwich.

Before the scorning against men could have begun, he quickly intervened with the breakdown of how his classification came about. He started broad creole:

“We (he and the female friend) gaan da café right, and I gaan inna the line fi order food wen she gone talk to somebody. One ah my bali mi deh fronta me inna the line and he ask me fi hail da li red-skin thing ova deh right. And he d talk up bout dis young gyal like ‘damn she all hot and thing.’ So I da like ‘Who? The one inna the pink shirt?’ He da like ‘no bwai d one inna the white weh you walk in with you!’ So den I da like ‘SHE?! Bwai she da old news, kinda like a old stale sandwich.”

Coincidentally at the same time my female friend over heard what he was saying as she made her way over to the lunch line. She questioned what was the deal with calling her an old stale sandwich? After serious consideration whether he should analyse his theory to a room filled with eight females (all second years) and one male (himself). He began with the scenario:

“You hungry right, and you got two sandwich on the table; wa fresh one just made and a stale one weh mi mek fa two days ago, which one you wa eat?”

Unanimously we agreed the fresh one for health reasons. He then defined his terminology:

“Okay! My point exactly. The young gyal weh you mi d talk to da mi wa first year while you—a second year, deh ya a whole year, you da no fresh meat on campus so you da the old sandwich. I wa tek back the stale part caz unu look like unu wa jump me right now. So yeah this fresh meat—I mean first year new so she da the new sandwich—ripe fi d pickings. No dat I d call unu old in age just dat we done used to see unu, some ah unu got bwaifren, and unu da just fren material now, cya hit pan unu.”

It made me wonder if this was really the mentality of males and even females toward the opposite sex; that because some newer persons comes along we are no longer romantically interested in the existing persons around us. In a sense it is true, for both male and female.

Is the Sandwich Theory plausible? What do you think?

Breaking News

This week shocking news came to Belize out of California. The report from Fresno said that an 11 year old Belizean girl, Jamelia Hinds had been sold by her mother into slavery- and that she was kept by American Family for ten years, enslaved and living in a garage. Well there's a whole lot of local blowback on that story tonight, which, for starters, says that she wasn't sold, but rather she was given away.
More on that shortly…..but there's also a dramatic and disturbing twist - another Belizean woman who gave her two young sons to that same American woman - says she hasn't seen or heard from them in eleven years - and has no idea where they are now, especially since the woman she gave them to is facing human trafficking charges.
That one left our heads spinning….
But we start with Karen Baptist, she is the mother of Jamelia Hinds - and when Jamelia appeared on the ABC News report out of Fresno it was the first time that this mother had seen her daughter since the year two thousand.
And while she was overjoyed to see the grown up 23 year old, she wasn't at all happy with what she heard.


One has to question what kind of people would do such a thing to a child? What kind of a person would sell her child? Who would keep children as slaves? This is sadly something that happens on a daily basis. Sad reality.

Bionics Fund Raiser

Delicious Nachoes on sale on Wednesday, March 2nd on the SJCJC campus.
With grind meat - $3.50
Without meat - $2.50

Help to support a worthy fund raiser.

Computer Labs

At a certain fine institution of education, it is important that they make computers available to the students. It is, as $150-a-semester-computer-lab-fee-paying students (whetther or not your taking a computer class), our right to the computer labs on campus. There are three of these labs. The first is the Library Lab, which is  small and usually crowded. The second is the W12 IT Lab, which by my understanding is not open for all students, only certain classes. And finally the W11 IT Lab, a more spacious lab with computers than that of the Library and available to everyone. This third lab has several rules, most of them understandable after all it is filled with a room of expensive, electronic access ports to the world wide web. However there is one unnecessary rule set by this lab's keeper: even though this keeper is in the lab, during certain hours the lab doors are locked. This is something many students, including myself, detest because that hour may be the only break during the day we have.The boldness of this keeper (not the spanish one) to deny us students from the service we have paid for.

Fridays

The one day of the week that most, if not all, people look forward to. Yet this friday was quite a drag... One may ask why. Well because a certain school decided to have its teacher's retreat on the preceeding thursday, meaning holiday (YAY!). Sadly, friday, we still had classes (NO!!). How considerate it was to have the retreat on a big thursday rather than giving these humble students a three day weekend, something we don't get much of and is well needed most of the time. Therefore, gratitude is in order here: Thank you Organizer of the Teacher's Retreat.