Map: world prison population rate

Here is a map of prison rate (i.e. #prisoners/100,000 people) in the world. Australia was covered in this map for unknow reason (its prison rate is 130, and rank is 102nd)

It is quite surprising that the US and Russia are the top 2 countries of imprisonment. I mean, on a per population basis, it is really quite a coincidence that these 2 cold war archrivals would top this list. St Kitts and Nevia scored 3rd and US Virign Islands is #4. Top 10 list here

• 1 United States of America 751
• 2 Russian Federation 632
• 3 St. Kitts and Nevis 588
• 4 Virgin Islands (USA) 549
• 5 Cuba c.531
• 6 Turkmenistan c.489
• 7 Palau 478
• 8 Virgin Islands (United Kingdom) 464
• 9 Belize 460
• 10 Georgia 428

Bottom 10 have prison rate below 30, but including some anarchic countries such as Nepal and Liberia. Liechtenstein is the only developed country in the bottom 10. (plus Faeroe Is of Denmark).

India scored very well (as a relatively normal country), 15th from the bottom and only 32 prisoners for a relatively peaceful country.

Japan is not bad at 63 prisoners/100k people, and #177 (or 41st from bottom)

PR China's rate is119, and ranked 113rd, ranked between Myanmar and the Netherlands. Taiwan not as well, ranked 51st at 236/100k. HK ranked 81st with 156/100k people.

Nationmaster has a list and map which shows similar ranking using stats from 2003.

I wonder if there is any trend but found these "correlations" from nationmaster

• Health > Abortions 71% [plot correlate graph]
• Economy > Comparative price levels (inverse) 65% [plot correlate graph]
• Media > Public share of broadcasting revenue (inverse) 62%[plot correlate graph]
• Economy > Import growth > Duration 1993-2002 60%[plot correlate graph]
• Military > Tanks 56%[plot correlate graph]
• Health > Health care funding > Total per capita (inverse) 55%[plot correlate graph]
• People > Size of houses 54%[plot correlate graph]
• Education > Spending per secondary school student (inverse) 54%[plot correlate graph]
• Health > Probability of not reaching 60 54%[plot correlate graph]
• Health > Health care funding > Public per capita (inverse) 53% [plot correlate graph]
  

Abortion rate is a "fake" correlation, since the slope is zero and the graph was skewed by a few (probably questionable) data of Russia/India. In fact any correlation to a non intensive measure (population is 'extensive' while per capita is 'intensive') is likely to be fake. (such as the number of Tanks, but number of tank divided by GDP or by population or by area is intensive measure and hence usually more meaningful)

I can understand why the prisoner rates are correlated with lack of healthcare funding (this is true for US as well), and lack of spending on secondary education or size of house (this is not so for US).

I suspect the correlation with number of Tanks is skewed by the 2 "super powers". But I was surprised to see that Poland, Germany, Vietnam and India all fall on the correlation line. (Russia actually had much less prisoners for its share of tanks, so is China and Egypt. While Mongolia had a lot of prisoners but very few tanks). -- as said above, this is a 'fake' correlation.

-- -- --

Next I am looking for a similar map for death penalty. I think there will also be some surprises.

Echoes: 2 pieces of news on Taiwan (and how much was wasted by the HKG ATC detour)

Some old posts were echoed today.

1) I blogged a couple years ago about the problem of Japan in the gas field in East China Sea. i.e. it is very costly and impractical to build pipe over the 3000m deep Okinawa trench separting the field and Okinawa.

There is a new analysis over the internet by a Taiwanese analyst recently

• 我们从这张图可以清楚看到在东海的争议区除了钓鱼岛没有其他岛屿，所以归属权完全决定於海底的结构。图中显示整个东海大陆架完全是中国大陆的海底延伸一直到琉球海沟，平均深度 370公尺。钓鱼岛非常清楚是在东海的大陆架上。
  琉球群岛西边深蓝色的海域就是着名的琉球海沟，深度2940公尺。
  
  我们看到整个东海大陆架非常整齐地被琉球海沟切断。所以东海大陆架是非常完整而连贯的从大陆海岸线延伸到琉球海沟，按照国际海洋法的规定，这整片大陆架完全归属中国。


• 日本根本不可能独自开发东海的天然气
  图１的右上角是一个大范围的海底地形图，不但包括东海也包括黄海、渤海、还有日本海。从这个地形图读者很清楚看到琉球海沟是从台湾的东北角开始一直伸延到日本九州岛的西北角。也就是说琉球海沟彻底把日本的从东海大陆架分隔出去。
  天然气不比石油。海上油井可以附设储油槽，然後由油轮运到世界各处。天然气则不然。海上气井开发後必须建立输送管到用户。
  「春晓气田」距离浙江宁波大约 350公里，输气管长 450公里，输送途径是浅海，虽然成本高一点但没有任何技术问题。
  但是对日本而言，任何东海大陆架的天然气田即使能够开发出来也无法运到日本，因为输气管不但长达千里，而且输送途径中间有琉球海沟无法跨越。日本唯一的办法就是建一个海上天然气的液化工厂，然後用船将液化天然气运走。但是在大海上建立天然气液化工厂以目前的技术根本不可能。
  东海的天然气日本即使看得到也吃不到。
  所以不论是从国际法的角度，还是从技术开发的角度，日本要在东海天然气田上分一杯羹都是痴心妄想。
  
  海上开采油气的费用非常高昂，勘探、测量、钻井、　设管线不但样样都是钱，而且具有高风险。举个例子，在三百五十公尺深的海域钻井，每一个勘探井的花费是三千万美元，能不能出油或出气还不知道。中国在东海大陆架作出巨大的投资与艰苦的工作，日本只在旁边看。
  日本原来的计算是认为中国东海的天然气田要在2010年以後才会投产，所以打算等待中国什麽都开发完成以後再来争。日本要捡现成的便宜，而不要担一分的风险。但是日本没有想到中国的开发速度很快，在2005年便建成投产，於是眼睛立刻就红了，抢着提出要求分一杯羹。
  其实中国完全不必理会日本的无理要求，因为日本根本不具有开发东海油气田的条件与技术。日本想用叁股的方法来分一杯羹实在是可气又可笑。日本的要求属於“见者有份”的强盗行为。

I wouldn't use such emotion words as that analyst. But that is pretty much the logic of why Japan's negotiation chips are not much.


2) I also blogged about how wasteful it is to detour the flights from mainland cities to those in Taiwan.

A few pro-DPP commentators tried to shift the blame to mainland regarding this issue of 'straightening the path 去弯取直'. Today finally it is widely reported in the media. I hope these political nonsense be gone in a few months.

• 台 構 思 兩 岸 設 專 用 航 線
  昨日 兩 岸 兩 會 提 出 直 航 航 線 為 「 截 彎 取 直 」 ， 不 必 再 繞 經 港 澳 或 韓 國 航 區 ， 改 為 直 接飛 越 台 海 。 但 此 建 議 在 台 灣 引 起 反 對 ， 故 下 月 4 日 的 包 機 仍 會 是 採 用 節 日 包 機 ， 繞經 港 澳 的 航 線 飛 行 。 而 台 灣 民 航 局 正 計 劃 開 闢 新 的 航 線 以 「 截 彎 取 直 」 ， 其中 一 個 構 思 是 兩 岸 在 南 北 各 畫 設 一 條 專 用 航 線 供 周 末 包 機 飛 航 ， 該 航 線 不 會 直 接 跨越 台 海 中 線 ， 可 避 免 軍 方 反 對 ， 比 起 現 時 節 日 包 機 須 繞 經 港 澳 航 區 ， 此 航 線 在 飛 航時 間 及 營 運 成 本 上 ， 都 有 很 大 的 節 省 空 間 。 但 因 未 獲 台 軍 方 同 意 ， 以 及 還 未 與 大 陸方 面 協 商 ， 有 關 計 劃 仍 在 研 究 當 中 。 台 灣 《 蘋 果 日 報 》
  台 軍 方 反 對 飛 越 台 海
  周末 包 機 直 航 是 此 次 兩 會 協 商 主 要 議 題 之 一 。 台 灣 軍 方 前 晚 重 申 ， 同 意 包 機 分 別 沿 南北 國 際 航 線 進 入 台 北 飛 航 情 報 區 ， 但 反 對 直 接 穿 越 台 海 的 立 場 沒 有 改 變 。 所 謂 「 截彎 取 直 」 ， 即 兩 岸 點 對 點 直 飛 ， 取 代 現 繞 經 香 港 或 日 本 海 域 的 航 線 ， 台 軍 方 擔 心 直飛 後 一 旦 兩 岸 起 戰 事 ， 對 大 陸 戰 機 犯 台 無 法 有 足 夠 時 間 預 警 。
  「 拿 西 裝 換 人 家 內 褲 」
  台民 航 局 副 局 長 林 信 得 昨 日 表 示 ， 直 航 構 想 「 仍 在 做 功 課 」 ， 需 要 與 國 防 部 商 討 取 得共 識 ， 由 陸 委 會 拍 板 。 民 進 黨 昨 日 則 狂 批 ， 江 丙 坤 等 都 是 與 中 國 有 龐 大 利 益 關 係 者， 提 出 「 截 彎 取 直 」 是 「 拿 西 裝 換 人 家 內 褲 」 。

DPP politicians invented a funny analogy for trading direct flight for its rather ill-defined 'security issue': "Suits for underwear".

Since the DPP claim to be a pro-environmental "Green" party. We shall examine how green this trade-off amounts to (ignoring the costs of the time wasted by businessmen/travellers for the time being)

• PEK-TPE = 1068 mi, vs PEK-HKG-TPE=1735 miles about 667miles or 62.5%
• PVG(shanghai)-TPE = 419 mi, vs PVG-HKG-TPE=1280 miles about 861miles or 205%
• Nanjing(NKG))-TPE = 481 mi, vs NKG-HKG-TPE=1219 miles about 738miles or 153.3%
• XMN-TPE = 198 mi, vs XMN-HKG-TPE=810 miles about 612miles or 308%
• Guangzhou is very close to HK, so the difference is minute. However, since travellers between GZ and TW have been using Macau and HK all the time already, the impact is small.

Now. Let's estimate the amount of gasoline wasted on this DPP's new suit. For the planned 18 flights per day (there are over 30 flights between HK and Taiwan each day, of which more than half are transits into the mainland), this would mean (excluding ex-Guangzhou's 3 flights/day) 15x700x2=21000miles of trips waster. i.e. 105,000 gallons per day (5 gallon per mile), or 37,000,000 gallon per year. At US$4/gallon (this week) it is $138m/year.

Go figure how green DPP is, and how much gas has been wasted in the past 8(+) years.

Lack of Motivation : How to motivate myself when going through depression

How do you motivate yourself when you go through depression? Or how do you cope with a lack of motivation to do things?

With bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), whenever I am well or hypomanic, I enjoy my family, church, work, photography, briskwalkings, making homemade bookmarks and other crafts and gifts, writing, blogging, etc.

But when I go through a relapse of clinical depression, all my motivation to do things seemed to disappear! Do you experience this too?

I felt extremely tired and easily tired. I have no heart nor energy to do anything. Waking up each morning seemed to be most difficult. I dread to wake up to face another day. I don't think I have the energy to face another day.

When severely depressed, it takes a lot to effort to even attend to basic general hygiene. I remembered days when I go without bathing or washing my face!

Eating takes too much effort as I don't have appetite. Exercise became extremely difficult because I was too tired.

Actually during clinical depression, it was due to the chemical imbalance in my brain that I am not able to enjoy anything in general.

But when I am not doing very much, I began to believe that I am useless, ineffective, inadequate, helpless and incapable of achieving anything. These negative thoughts make me feel more discouraged and in turn reduced my ability to do things. It becomes harder and harder to wake up each morning and to attend to my usual activities. This become a visual cycle and it has been called the lethargic circuit.

How to break this lethargic circuit and derive motivation to face each day?

For me, praying to God and reading the Bible daily, is my first weapon to break this lethargic circuit. I realized that unless God gives me the grace and strength to cope, I will not have the energy nor the desire to face another day.

Thank God for His faithfulness in helping me to cope. God sent me many kind friends who prayed and encouraged me. God also led me to read useful books and articles on how to manage clinical depression.

I am learning and doing the following which is helping me to break the lethargic circuit and derive motivation to face each day and to do things:

1) I am learning to wake up at the same time each day though I dread waking up. I realized that once I am up, I am able to do some things after all. I also try to sleep at the same time every night so that I get enough sleep. Insufficient sleep or rest can worsen depression.

2) I am learning to eat my meals regularly and as nutritiously as possible. Though I don't have much appetite and eating seems to be such an effort, I realized that I need all the energy and nutrition to fight this depression and therefore I must eat! I try to eat more vegetable and fruits to gain more vitamins and nutrition.

3) I am learning to exercise regularly. Exercise seemed so difficult at first as I am so tired daily. But I am learning that exercise is important to build up my strength and stamina. So I learn to start slowly and daily. I find that as the days go by, I began able to exercise longer. My body and mind becomes stronger. Exercise release good chemicals to help us fight depression.

I enjoy briskwalking. I go for briskwalks whenever I can. Sometimes I exercise by walking on my brother's treadmill or stationery bike.

4) I am learning to create a routine. I realized that without a routine, I tend to avoid doing things as I no longer enjoy anything. This will only caused me to remain in the lethargic circuit. To break this lethargic circuit, I learn to plan my days. I schedule regular exercise and some activities that I enjoy for each day. I found that with every task that I managed to complete, I began to feel motivated to do more. I began to experience a sense of accomplishment.

5) Break tasks into smaller portions. When going through depression, every tasks seemed so difficult. It's hard to began to do anything. Procastination sets in. To avoid this, I am learning to break my tasks into smaller and more manageable portions. I try to do only a portion each day and I found that I was able to get things done slowly. This again gives me a sense of accomplishment and the motivation to do more.

6) I am learning to be patient and not to be too hard with myself. I try to remember that I am unwell now and it takes time to rebuild my body and mind. So when I failed to accomplish what I planned for the day, I learn to tell myself, it's okay. I will try harder tomorrow. Or I break the task into even smaller portions.

7) I am learning not to let my negative thoughts or feelings prevent me from daily activities. I am learning that my feelings during depression are not necessarily valid. They often have little bearing on the truth. My feelings of being too depressed to cope do not mean that I will not be able to cope when I am actually in a situation. So I am learning to ask God for strength to cope with daily challenges despite my depression.

I am thankful to God for His mercies and faithfulness in helping me to cope each day. This relapse of clinical depression is yet another learning experience for me to learn to manage my bipolar disorder better. It is also another opportunity for me to experience God's love, goodness and mercies in many wonderful ways. God's Words and His presence with me is my daily encouragement and strength.

I am also thankful to my family, my church and my friends for prayers and support. I am thankful to all of you, my dear blogging friends and visitors, for your prayers, encouragements and support in this difficult time. Thanks for all your suggestions on how to manage depression and for sharing your life and experiences with me. I have so much to learn!

How about you? How do you motivate yourself to do things when you go through depression?

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a blessed day.

Someone Get The Lysol...

This is from TheOnion.com:

Sources within the Red Wings organization confirm that goalie Chris Osgood, who is currently engaged in accompanying the Stanley Cup on a victory tour of talk shows and publicity events, has repeatedly and insistently claimed to have gotten as far as third base with hockey's championship trophy during the past week. ...When asked for comment, Osgood himself initially refused to give details.

[...]

Osgood told ESPN's Jim Rome when asked about his involvement with the trophy on Wednesday's Jim Rome Is Burning. "I mean, everyone dreams of winning the Cup, that's only natural. But it's not like that with me. Come on, man."


However, when Rome attempted to change the subject to Osgood's long and tumultuous Detroit career, Osgood, apparently warming to the subject, continued to talk about his relationship with the Cup.

"Okay, now, I'm not saying there isn't—it's a powerful feeling, when you win the Cup, and sometimes that leads to other feelings that are just as powerful," Osgood continued. "Things happen, but you and the Cup both want them to happen, and you go back to the hotel and ask it to watch Dirty Dancing, and eventually maybe you get into some up and over, or there's some up and down and underneath, or maybe—I'm not saying this happened, but you know—maybe there's more than one way to kiss the Cup."

"A better way," a grinning Osgood added as an evidently stunned Rome remained mute. "A way that brings the Cup as much pleasure as the Cup brings you. Or the great city of Detroit, for that matter."

I laughed until I cried, but now someone needs to tell me what I have to do to erase that image from my head! Read the entire thing here. We'll talk RFAs and outdoor games tomorrow...

Thankful Thursday - Comfort from God's Words

In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. Psalm 94:19

Iris has chosen the theme "His Words" for Thankful Thursday, reminding me afresh the preciousness of God's Words.

♥ I am thankful to God that in the multitude of my thoughts daily, God's Words comforts, strengthens and delights my soul.

♥ I am thankful to God that His Words guides me to live for Him and to do His will in every aspect of my life at home, in church, my relationships and friendships, at work, on my blogs, etc etc.

♥ I am thankful to God for using His Words to change me by and by, and the assurance that He is doing a deeper work in my soul daily for His glory. I am what I am by the grace of God!

♥ I am thankful to God for teaching me to challenge my negative thoughts with His Words and to change to more biblical thoughts and actions that is pleasing to Him. May God help me daily for I am weak but He is strong!

♥ I am thankful to God for the following portions of His Words from the Bible which has encouraged, strengthened and uplifted me when I remember God's Love.

• The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Jeremiah 31:3
  

• ....I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5

♥ I am thankful to God that He hears and answers our prayers, and He gives us peace as we trust in Him. He knows what is best for us! He has promised :

• Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Jeremiah 33:3
  

• Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
  

♥ Thank God for a blessed time of fellowship this week with my 2 dear friends from Brunei and a sister-in-Christ from UK.

♥ Thank God for blessing me with a family, church and many friends who love God and love me.

♥ Thank God that this week my church can go for a Church Conference in Malaysia to listen to God's Words and to have a blessed time of fellowship. Although I couldn't join them because I am taking care of my mother, I remember them in prayer that God will bless them abundantly with His Words.

♥ Thank God for sustaining me daily as I continue to look to Him for strength, grace and joy to manage my bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness) and other challenges in my life daily so that I can live usefully for God and be a blessing to others.

♥ Thank God for strengthening my health as I continue to wait upon Him. Thank God for many who have prayed with and for me. Thanks!

♥ Thank God for opportunities, joy and strength to serve Him in little ways daily.

♥ Thank God that He is with us always and give us guidance, strength and joy through His Words as we look to Him each day.

♥ Thank God for all of you for stopping by, and for your prayers and encouragements. May God bless all of you with His love, peace and joy daily.

How about you? How has the Lord blessed you through the past week?

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a blessed and thankful day!

'Cause There Ain't No Cure For The Summertime Blues

Today seemed like a good day to dig into some of the stuff I've been holding and/or didn't have a chance to get to during the playoffs. But first (I PROMISE this is the very last time I'm going to bring this up) I have to reopen "The Great Malkin Debate." Now we've got two items that suggest we need to go back to GENO over GINO. First, Pengylady sent me this:

For what it’s worth . . . . After he scored the goal last night – the arena Jumbotron was flashing GENO. And I don’t think that article from the official site was by Penguins staff – it had an NHL.com byline.

Now I've seen "GENO!!!" flash on that Jumbotron with my own eyes (several times!), and yet I have no idea why it never occurred to me to refer to that when we were trying to determine how to spell Malkin's nickname.


Then, Pensgirl sent me this:

Not to drag out the Geno/Gino debate, but I happened to look over at my computer just now and the attached file was going by on my screen saver. It's one of the 'comic book' wallpapers the Pens put up on their official website. Talk about muddying the waters - if the Pens themselves are the best source, we now have both spellings coming from them!

This is the wallpaper she was referring to:

Click it to enlarge it.

This is another thing - I have this cycling through my Webshots so I've seen it probably hundreds of times, yet it never occurred to me to refer to it, either. GEEZ!! Anyways, since "GENO" is how the actual Pens staff is spelling it (and since "GENO" is preferred by the majority of you), it will remain GENO on TSCS unless and until I actually see Malkin himself writing it differently. CASE CLOSED, haha! ;)

Aisha V. sent me this hilarious video of Mad Max Talbot and Big Georges Laraque talking about Game 3.

Lexie101 was at the Mellon when BGL and Mad Max were taping that interview:

Max was nice enough to stop and give her an autograph and take a picture with her.

Stephanie S. sent in pictures of herself with her beloved Dallas Stars' goaltender Marty Turco as well as one of her standing beside hockey's Holy Grail:

Haha, Marty's kind of skinny. I wonder if he's got stems like our Flower! :P

Christine sent me an article that eased my mind a bit. Evidently Marian Hossa wants silver more than salary:

"If I wanted to make a couple more dollars, I would probably just re-sign with Atlanta," said Hossa. "...There's always a limit, but I'd rather take a little less and play on a good team, definitely."


...captain Sidney Crosby made it clear that he does not want to enter next season the way he did this one -- without a high-scoring winger to make best use of his talent as a set-up man.

Crosby, whose five-year, $43.5-million extension begins this fall, said yesterday that he is willing to drop his tag as the team's highest-paid player in order to keep his right-hand man in Hossa. [snoop: Another reason Sid is the Saint...]

"I want to play with him," Crosby said. "He's a great player. I hope it works out that he's able to stay. He's a great person. He works hard. I enjoy playing with him. As we played together more and got used to each other, things started to happen, and it was a lot of fun out there. It would be a lot of fun to keep playing with someone like that. I hope it works out."


...[Hossa said,] "Sid is an incredible player and even better person. But there's lot of players to be signed. We'll see what's going to happen. I'm sure Ray's going to do everything he can to keep everybody together."

That is freaking awesome. Of all the players set to become UFAs this summer, I hope Ray Shero can find a way to keep Hossa, Ryan Malone, and Brooks Orpik. They are my top 3. If Shero can pull out the magic pixie dust and keep them all, well, that would be FANTASTIC! But realistically, we should be preparing ourselves to say goodbye to a few of them... Leave your top 3 UFA "keepers" in the comments section below.

Finally, this one is for our Red Wings loving Friends. Our Friend Daily Su keeps a blog over at NHL Connect where she writes under the name MotleySu. Here's an interesting story she found:

WDIV sports babe in hot water! WDIV sports reporter Katrina Hancock is embroiled in controversy among Detroit sports fans.

Hancock followed the Red Wings to Pittsburgh to cover game six of the Stanley Cup finals. While there, she allowed herself to be interviewed by a KDKA reporter. He stated that she was the only reporter from Detroit willing to admit that Penguins fans are better than Detroit fans. She then admitted to that on camera.

Dissing your viewers is not exactly a smart thing to do...

The KDKA reporter followed her remarks by saying he had to promise Hancock the interview would never run in Detroit (I guess he never heard of the internet).

Internet bulletin boards and sports talk radio shows have exploded with fans calling for her head.

Interesting...

Seriously, even if she only has limited knowledge of modern technology, how could Hancock think that no one from Detroit would find out about this?! Haha, I can't wait to hear her mea culpa. :P

OH!!! One last thing before I let you go - I know most of the regulars here have already checked out RaleighSkyline.com (aka: the site with the stunning pictures of the Stanley Cup). BUT YOU HAVE TO CHECK IT OUT AGAIN!!! At some point between when I first linked it and now, Matt Robinson added an absolutely unreal closeup photo of the Penguins' spot(s) on the Stanley Cup. It's amazing.

Many thanks to Friends of The Show Pengylady, Pensgirl, Aisha, Lexie101, Stephanie, Christine, and Daily Su for the assistance with today's post!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Word-Filled Wednesday : Fear not... I will be with thee

"...Fear not:... when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee:... " Isaiah 43:1-2

Thank God for the assurance of His presence with us through all the changing scenes in life, and especially in our difficulties, trials or afflictions. What a comfort!


Thank you for stopping by. Thanks for your prayers and encouragements. Hope you have a blessed day!

(I took this photo of the waves at Changi Beach, Singapore)