Vietnam: One of the highest rates of abortion in the world..

After reading an article in Timeout Magazine, it had an article about Vietnam's growing issue with abortions. Teenagers have a naivety towards safe sex with a lack of sex education. When you're young and in love, nothing else really matters. But they do.

-According to the Vietnam Family Planning Association, Vietnam has between 1.2million to 1.6million cases per year.

-VFPA says that between 5% have given birth before the age of 18 and 15% by the age of 20.

-Abortions are also cheap procedures, costing between 100,00VND to 150,000VND (about USD$6 to USD$8).

-With up to four generations under one household, many young couples will check into day hotels (rooms for rent).

-Many teenagers will call clinics or ask what they should do AFTER having unprotected sex says Nguyen Bich Lam of Hanoi's Anh Sang Clinic.

All in all, I think that sex education will need to be the next priority along with economic development. Vietnam is in such a unique position because of the young population. 75% of the population is under 35.

knowlege is power.

Saigon getting HDTV?

Saw this banner the other day.

Vietnamese BBoys..

This is on a Sunday morning at a local sports complex.

BBoys in action, Vietnamese style.

Blogging is what News Writing should be like; Twitter is what Blogging should be like

News reporting has been around since the dawn of man. In fact, the Bible is probably the most famous news compilation there is.

However, since the advent of technology, news reporting has been taken over by blogging (which is what you're reading now).

News reporting has several characteristics, of which timing and depth is important. When a story is reported, it is often that it is "breaking" news. Other times, a story may be an in depth analysis.

Blogging is superior in both terms as it can be updated INSTANTLY and can provide a medium for in depth analysis such as showing videos or graphical data in front of the reader.

However, blogging has one barrier. It is a one way communication system. Once someone posts on their blog, it takes time for the message to carry out. Once the message is carried out, it takes time to digest the information.

Here comes Twitter. What is Twitter? Its a blog, but you're limited to 140 characters and no pictures. What does that accomplish? Quick messages that are SPREAD instantly. What advantage is this? It has been reported that during times of crisis (ie. earthquakes, politcal unrest, etc), Twitter users are the first to report it and the message spreads even faster.

So the progression of information has almost reduced to seconds; rather than minutes.