Honduras Vence a México 2-1 en el Azteca

La selección catracha venció al equipo mexicano 2-1 en Estadio Azteca. Con goles de Jerry Bengston y Carlo Costly en el segundo tiempo, Honduras liquidó el partido dejando a México, el gran favorito de la Concacaf casi fuera del mundial Brasil 2014.

Y es que este triunfo lleno de jubilo a los fanaticos hondureños quienes nunca perdieron las esperanzas de que el equipo catracho ganara. 

Obama re-elected for a second term

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv9NwKAjmt0

A Tragedy Movie in Real Life

It happened again! This time the shooting occurred at a movie theater.

A 24-year-old man identified by the police as James Holmes opened fire in a movie theater auditorium in Aurora, Colorado early this morning leaving a dozen dead and many more injured, as the crowd waited for the premiere of the PG-13-rated movie, "The Dark Knight Rises" opening in theaters today.

As cold as it seems to describe it, we learned that the events were the ones of a movie. It was like a live movie in a movie theater. Police described the events as a man entering the auditorium as if he was going to a "battle field"--wearing a "ballistics helmet, bullet-proof vest, bullet-proof leggings, gas mask and gloves."

Where was the security of this movie theater? Police said the man was carrying four weapons even a rifle and was all dressed up to do something bad. It's hard to imagine that nobody noticed anything weird with him, a person who had obviously all intentions to kill people. How can that be explained to the family members of the victims?

When we hear about these types of news, we can't stop wondering, what leads people to do such things? I mean if we think about other related incidents involving shootings, it's all about young people who are in college or were in college and that are obviously mentally sick. I mean they gotta be, otherwise it is not possible to even imagine people can do this.

The most recent incident happened here in the Bay Area, when a gunman killed several students and left others wounded at Oikos University in Oakland early this year. And what about the rampage shooting in Tucson, Arizona in the beginning of 2011? Here a 22-year-old man opened fire to a small crowd outside a supermarket, shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head and killing others. And these massacres are just to mention a few.

Of course, it is hard to track down people facing mental issues all around who are trying to kill other people in unexpected places especially when they seem to be "normal," but the police need definitely to step up and do much more about it. We as society cannot continue waiting for the next attack to happen, especially when they are becoming more and more frequent. Many believe that the first step is to get rid of the handguns particularly because in most of these cases, the shooters seemed to have prepared themselves in advance gathering their weapons to commit their massacres.

All we can do from our part is to be aware of our surroundings and try to protect ourselves and loved ones at all times.

Unfortunately for some people the screening day of "The Dark Knight Rises" won't be remembered as a great premiere day, but as the day in which Holmes, the alleged shooting suspect, took the lives of many who just wanted to be the first ones to enjoy a good movie.

Una Tragedia sin Palabras

Las imágenes son escalofriantes, los hechos son aterradores. Y es que no hay palabras para describir el incendio ocurrido en la cárcel de Comayagua, Honduras el pasado martes por la noche, el cual ya es calificado como una de las peores tragedias ocurridas en una cárcel, por su cifra de muertos.

Lamentablemente Honduras vuelve a ser motivo de atención y no precisamente por razones sobresalientes. Según reportes, más de 350 muertos fue el saldo que dejo el incendio en este recinto cuyo monto de reos superaba los 800, más del doble de su capacidad.

Aunque aún no hay declaraciones oficiales que determinen las causas de dicho incendio, las hipótesis son muchas. Las que dan las autoridades es que fue un reo que inicio el incendio al encender un colchón; las que da un presunto sobreviviente de que fue algo planeado entre reos y policías para una presunta fuga y las que manejan los familiares de las víctimas de que fue negligencia de los guardias.

Aunque, la gente hondureña o no hondureña tiene reacciones encontradas sobre esta tragedia, la verdad es que todos somos seres humanos y nadie merece morir de forma tan horrenda. Al final los que sufren son los familiares desconsolados que lo único que quieren es saber si sus familiares están muertos o vivos. Desafortunademente, en estas instituciones penitenciarias están revueltos todo tipo de reos sin importar sus delitos; desde cumpliendo condenas por homicidios hasta por simplemente tener un tatuaje y vinculárseles con pandillas.

Las causas verdaderas de este horror vivido en mi país puede que nunca se esclarezcan, pero lo que sí es cierto es que nuestros países necesitan implementar un sistema de cárceles más seguro que incluya un proceso de evacuación organizado en caso de emergencia. Asimismo, proporcionar condiciones humanas dignas que pueden evitar tragedias como las ocurridas en este centro penal de Comayagua, localizada a unos 90 kilómetros de Tegucigalpa, la capital del país.

Es verdaderamente indignante leer, que cárceles como ésta, con una capacidad de más de 800 reos solamente contaba con un número determinado de guardias.

"En un día cualquiera había 800 encarcelados en unas instalaciones construidas para 500. Eran 51 guardias en el día y 12 en la noche, aunque uno de los que estaban esa noche de turno le dijo a AP que solo habían seis, cuatro de los cuales nunca abandonaron sus puestos en las torres de vigilancia apostadas en las cuatro esquinas de la granja."

Esto lo leí en un artículo y realmente causa pena porque así no se puede manejar un recinto de cárcel donde existen tantos presos conviviendo juntos.

Que tristeza que nuestros países sean tan pobres que es más fácil almacenar a cientos de reos en celdas con poca capacidad y poner a menos guardias; que mantener un control más detallado y construir más cárceles donde se puedan seleccionar a los reos según sus delitos cometidos y no meterlos a todos juntos en una celda.

¡Aparentamos lo que no Somos!

Esta mañana asistí junto con mi hermana, Vicky a la misma dominical en la iglesia Corpus Christi en San Francisco y me gustó mucho el tema del que se hablo porque es algo con lo cual podemos sentirnos identificados. El padre nos habló a los presentes sobre no dejar morir al niño que llevamos dentro para así poder vivir en amor, esperanza y humildad que tanto necesitamos en un mundo lleno de apariencias.

Y es que desafortunadamente vivimos en un mundo en el que es más importante aparentar lo que no somos que a dar a conocer lo que realmente somos; lo que nos identifica como seres humanos. Durante el sermón--como se conoce comúnmente-- el padre enfatizó la transparencia que posee un niño. Ese niño que no le importa lo que piensan los demás, que no está al pendiente de comprar zapatos de marca y que tampoco le interesa si anda el mejor reloj. El padre añadió que para un niño lo más imporante es "comer y dormir" lo cual nos causó risa a todos porque es cierto.

Mientras escuchaba las palabras del padre, también observaba a dos niñas de aproximadamente tres años de edad que estaban a la par mía. Al igual que mucha gente, mi hermana y yo estabamos de pie porque llegamos un poco tarde y ya no habían asientos disponibles. Las dos niñas estaban brincando, riéndose, bailando y hablando sobre que querían ir a comer helado después de la misa. Hablaban como si estuvieran ellas solas, como si todos los presentes eran invisibles. Y eso era exactamente a lo que se estaba refiriendo el padre--que los niños se sienten libres y no les importan las apariencias. Era tan asombroso ver como esas dos niñas, al igual que otros niños presentes en la misa, reflejaban cada palabra que el padre decía.

Pero, ¿cómo sentirse libre en una sociedad donde el aspecto, por ejemplo, es tan importante para muchos? Lamentablemente existe tanta presión por ser lo que no somos que pareciera como si ofendieramos a los demás al mostrarnos al mundo tal cual somos. Y eso se transmite en nosotros mismos porque llegamos al punto de no aceptarnos, a querer ser diferentes. Por ejemplo, si tenemos el pelo liso lo queremos rizado y viceversa. En fin, no apreciamos nuestras propias virtudes por fijarnos en las de los demás. Tenemos que ser perfectos ante la sociedad porque si no, sentimos que el mundo se nos va a venir encima.

Y como dijo el padre, si al menos aprendieramos a aceptarnos como somos y a disfrutarnos como tal, nos ahorraríamos tantos problemas y sufrimientos. Así que seamos quienes somos y sintámonos bien con nosotros mismos. Dejemos salir a ese niño que llevamos dentro--talvez así logremos que en este mundo reine más el amor y la humildad, que la apariencia.

I Felt the Quake too!

Ok so today many of us woke up with the news that there was a 5.8-magnitude earthquake in East Coast affecting areas such as New York, Virginia and Washing on D.C., among others.

What's even scarier about today's news though is that just five minutes ago at around 11:40 p.m., I felt my bed shaking so badly that I thought the worse. I couldn't believe it was a quake, I thought it was just my bed, but as a matter of fact, it was an earthquake. Many of my friends who live in San Francisco were already posting on Facebook that they felt the shaking too.

So not only Richmond was shaking, but San Francisco too, along with other areas in the Bay Area. According to some news sites, the earthquake was of 3.6 magnitude and was felt throughout most of the Bay Area region. As well as the earthquake in the east coast earlier in the day, there wasn't any report on any person injured or any major disaster.

Although, it seems common to feel an earthquake in California due to the fact that it is a very seismic state, it is inevitable to think about why all these earthquakes happen, specially if you think about today that we experienced different quakes from Coast to Coast. I mean I am talking about from New York all the way to California?

After I felt the shake and commented on some of my friends' posts on Facebook, I couldn't stop wondering about how prepared we are for an earthquake. Hours earlier, during the day, my brother had asked me if we, at home were prepared to face an earthquake. My answer was no.

I don't think anybody is. And if we do, in case of a real emergency it is impossible to stay focused and do the right thing as instructed or learned. I mean there are many earthquake preparedness activities or emergency preparedness in general, but we don't pay enough attention to them.

The whole world had experienced great natural disasters, specially earthquakes. How to forget the most recent earthquakes in Japan, Chile, and Haiti; just to mention a few.

I think we should start to pay more attention on how to be more prepared for natural disasters like earthquakes because unfortunately they can't be accurately stopped or predicted . I know I will!

My Story With Final Destination Movies

I went to watch Final Destination 5 yesterday, which was released on Friday, August 12. And believe me this is a "must see" movie along with the other sequels. I mean, I've seen all of the other ones before and every time I get out of the theater with a weird sensation of "death" in my mind.

As you all know, these films are about cheating death and discovering one by one, as the movie moves along, the craziest death situations. I'm talking about the most extravagant deaths ever, which is the heart and most interesting part of these movies. This is where the suspense and fear take place among those of us watching them.

First, let's remember the opening accidents in every film. In 2000, an explosion of a plane takes place in FD1 (Flight 180, which serves as one of the warnings or omens for the rest of the films), a highway pile-up in FD2 released in 2003 (starring the only survivor from FD1), a roller-coaster crash in FD3 in 2006 and a race-car track in FD4 in 2009. And of course, exactly two years later comes FD5 with a bridge collapse.

However, the other freaky part and indeed the intention of Jeffrey Reddick, creator of these films, is to make people believe, think and react to them. And that's exactly what happens to me when I go to see them. And I am pretty sure many of you go through the same.

For this last one, I went to watch it with a friend who had never seen any Final Destination movie before. To be honest, I was more terrified and impatient than him. Anyway, as we got out of the theater, I started to notice every single detail; from the words on the walls to any strange noise. Once going home to Richmond, while on the Bart train, I couldn't stop thinking about...what if the train crashes as it happens on FD3? I stared at everyone around me, thinking about the worst case scenario. On top of that, when I got home, they were showing FD1 and 3 on Fox. I was like..what? But I watched them.

In addition, the next day I had to go to work. As every Sunday, my father would drive me to work and we'd cross the Bay Bridge to San Francisco. When we entered the bridge, I noticed a "Road Work Ahead" sign and two lanes were closed rounded by orange traffic cones. Honestly, I got scared for a second and couldn't avoid looking at the suspension cables of the bridge and thinking about what would happen if those cables tear apart as they did in the bridge collapse of FD5. Good thing at 6 a.m. in the morning, there isn't too much traffic and cars were running without any interruption.

I know this is ridiculous, specially because I love to watch these series of films and I know it is fiction. But I always wonder...where do they get these death ideas from? Are they from real life? or are they just messing around with us?

Well, I don't know. Meanwhile, FD3 is still my favorite. How to forget the phrase: "don't push the button"? For me, FD3 was a little bit more dramatic than the others though not only because the premonition character was a girl as it was on FD2, but because I liked the acting part on this one.

One last thing. I couldn't understand the last scene on FD5, where the last two survivor characters are embarked in a plane destined to Paris and where they perished. We see the scene of the first Final Destination movie all back again and the same characters involving the promonition that the plane will crash. Does it mean the end of these movies? Or is it all coming back to the beginning again?