Ocupa México el lugar 51 en el mapa de la felicidad

La esperanza de vida, bienestar económico y acceso a la educación de la población, son algunos de los factores que tomaron en cuenta para la creación del documento; Dinamarca y Suiza encabezan la lista

El mapa de la felicidad (University of Leicester)

EFE
El Universal
Londres, Inglaterra
Viernes 28 de julio de 2006

07:05 La Universidad de Leicester, en Inglaterra, ha realizado el primer mapa mundial de la “felicidad”, según el cual los daneses y los suizos son los más felices mientras que los zimbabuenses y los burundeses los que menos.

El mapa ha sido montado por el experto en psicología social Adrian White, que basó su análisis en la esperanza de vida, bienestar económico y acceso a la educación de la población.

White, de la citada universidad, situada en el centro de Inglaterra, utilizó datos publicados por la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO) y de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), entre otros organismos, para ilustrar las diferencias internacionales sobre nivel de felicidad.

El mapa reúne a 177 países, está basado en más de cien estudios publicados en todo el mundo y en las respuestas sobre este tema de unas 80 mil personas.

Después de Dinamarca y Suiza, los más felices son los ciudadanos de Austria, Islandia, Bahamas, Finlandia y Suecia, mientras que entre los primeros veinte también están Costa Rica (13), Holanda (15), Malasia (17) y Noruega (19), en tanto que el Reino Unido se queda en el cuadragésimo primer lugar, EU en el vigésimo tercero y España en el cuadragésimo sexto.

Entre los países latinoamericanos, figuran en la lista Argentina (56), Bolivia (117), Brasil (81), Chile (71), Colombia (34), Cuba (83), República Dominicana (42), Ecuador (111), El Salvador (61), Guatemala (43), Honduras (37), México (51), Nicaragua (85), Panamá (39), Paraguay (75), Perú (115), Uruguay (87), Venezuela (25).

Según la Universidad de Leicester, si bien se trata de un área muy subjetiva, el análisis es muy confiable.

El autor del mapa cree que la colaboración entre expertos de distintos países permitiría establecer los cambios de felicidad de la población y cuáles son los factores de la modificación en el estado de ánimo.

“El concepto de felicidad, o satisfacción en la vida, es actualmente una amplia área de investigación en la economía y la psicología”, subrayó White.

El nivel de felicidad está más asociado con la salud de las personas, el bienestar económico en cuanto al Producto Interno Bruto de un país y el acceso a la educación secundaria, según el estudio.

Los consultados manifestaron que daban prioridad a la salud, seguida de la situación económica y por último la educación.

Las tres variables están muy vinculadas entre sí, lo que pone de manifiesto la interdependencia de estos tres factores, dijo White.

“Hay una creencia de que el capitalismo causa gente infeliz. No obstante, cuando a la gente se le preguntó si era feliz, había más probabilidad de que personas de países con buena sanidad, alto Producto Interno Bruto por cápita y acceso a la educación manifestaron ser felices”, explicó el experto en psicología social.

La Universidad de Leicester espera dar a conocer detalles de este mapa el próximo septiembre en una publicación especializada en psicología, cuyo nombre no ha revelado, y en una conferencia sobre psicología, prevista para finales de año.

Miss Indonesia, con un pie en el bote por desfilar en traje de baño

Un grupo islámico indonesio denunció ante las autoridades locales a Nadine Chandrawinata, representante de Indonesia en el último certamen de Miss Universo. Su crimen: desfilar en traje de baño y podría alcanzar una pena de seis años de cárcel.

Según el Frente de Defensa Islámica, la organización que ha presentado la denuncia, "el desfile de Nadine en traje de baño es un insulto contra la dignidad de la mujer Indonesia".

Nadine, una exótica belleza de origen germano, se ha convertido en un personaje muy popular en su país; sin embargo, la joven

no logró llegar a la final el domingo. El abogado que representa los intereses de la Organización Islámica ha manifestado a la agencia Reuters que también tomará medidas legales contra cuatro ciudadanos indonesios que han participado en el apoyo de la miss.

"Estoy preocupado", ha dicho el abogado, de nombre Sugito, por Nadine, "creo que es sólo una víctima de su ambición". El letrado argumenta que no sólo defiende el punto de vista del Islam, sino también de otras religiones que han podido sentirse afectadas por el comportamiento de Nadine.

23 sailors rescued from listing cargo ship - 5000 vehicles lost

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Rescuers from the Coast Guard and Alaska Air National Guard late Monday saved 23 crew members from an Asian cargo ship taking on water south of the Aleutian Islands.

"People are out of harm's way, they are rescued and they are safe," said Alaska National Guard spokesman Maj. Mike Haller.

All 23 crew members were hoisted into two National Guard Pave Hawk helicopters and a Coast Guard helicopter and taken to Adak Island in the Aleutians, 230 miles to the north of the Cougar Ace.

The rescue was conducted in "very challenging weather," said Master Sgt. Sal Provenzano with the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center. There were 10-foot seas whipping the ship, which was listed nearly on its side.

A nearby merchant marine vessel was standing by to take any crew member who couldn't fit on the three helicopters, but rescuers decided against conducting more hoist operations to lower the crew members onto the ship in poor weather.

"We made the decision to cram in everybody," Provenzano said.

One crew member with a broken ankle was to be flown by plane to Anchorage immediately after landing in Adak, Provenzano said. There were no other injuries reported.

It was not immediately known how long the other crew members, who all donned survival suits when the ship started taking on water, would remain on Adak Island.

The Cougar Ace began listing in the turbulent Pacific Ocean late Sunday night, when the crew sent out an SOS.

A Coast Guard plane earlier Monday dropped three life rafts, but roiling waters shoved the rafts underneath the dipping port side of the 654-foot ship. Racing against an increasingly tilting ship, rescuers tossed an additional raft along the higher starboard side, but it was a 150-foot drop to the water and beyond their reach.

The Cougar Ace had been carrying nearly 5,000 cars from Japan to Canada when it began taking on water Sunday night.

A merchant marine ship crew that had been in the area reached the vessel Monday morning. The crew of that ship tried, but failed, to rig a line to the Cougar Ace to keep it from tilting further.

Near the vessel, Coast Guard officers could see a 2-mile oil sheen, though officials said it was difficult to say how much of the ship's 430 metric tons of fuel oil or 112 metric tons of diesel fuel had spilled. The ocean was choppy, with rain squalls and 8- to 10-foot seas reported.

Communications between the crew and Coast Guard became increasingly difficult Monday when the batteries in the crew's hand-held radio dimmed, Coast Guard Lt. Mara Booth-Miller said. Crew members had to shout information to the merchant ship, which then relayed messages back and forth to the Coast Guard.

The Singapore-flagged Cougar Ace — owned by Tokyo-based Mitsui O.S.K. Lines — was carrying 4,813 vehicles from Japan to Vancouver, British Columbia, said Greg Beuerman, a spokesman for the ship owner. There were no reports of any cars going overboard. Beuerman said typically vehicles are securely fastened.

It wasn't immediately clear what had caused the ship to list, and its crew didn't know where the water was coming in.

Beside the Coast Guard helicopter, two Pave Hawk helicopters, two refueling planes and a C-130 plane were sent from Kulis Air National Guard Base in Anchorage. Guard crews carried rafts and survival kits, including food, water, flares and radios, said Guard spokeswoman Kalei Brooks.

Early on, the Coast Guard alerted the clinic at the small town of Adak — a former Naval air station on the island of the same name — to gear up for treating at least one broken ankle and possible hypothermia cases. Nurse practitioner Michael Terry said residents hustled to set up cots and blankets at the community center, prepare food and coffee, gather donations of warm clothing. The clinic rounded up emergency medics and braced for action.

"We actually were preparing to have an air disaster drill at the airport (Tuesday) so we moved it up a day," Terry said.

Wide Awake on the Sea of Tranquillity

NASA Story

Neil Armstrong was supposed to be asleep. The moonwalking was done. The moon rocks were stowed away. His ship was ready for departure. In just a few hours, the Eagle's ascent module would blast off the Moon, something no ship had ever done before, and Neil needed his wits about him. He curled up on the Eagle's engine cover and closed his eyes.

But he could not sleep.

Neither could Buzz Aldrin. In the cramped lander, Buzz had the sweet spot, the floor. He stretched out as much as he could in his spacesuit and closed his eyes. Nothing happened. On a day like this, sleep was out of the question.


Above: Apollo 11 Earthrise. [More]

July 20, 1969: The day began on the farside of the Moon. Armstrong, Aldrin and crewmate Mike Collins flew their spaceship 60 miles above the cratered wasteland. No one on Earth can see the Moon's farside. Even today it remains a land of considerable mystery, but the astronauts had no time for sight-seeing. Collins pressed a button, activating a set of springs, and the spaceship split in two. The half named Columbia, with Collins on board, would remain in orbit. The other half, the Eagle, spiraled over the horizon toward the Sea of Tranquillity.

"You are Go for powered descent," Houston radioed, and the Eagle's engine fired mightily. The bug-shaped Eagle was so fragile a child could poke a hole through its gold foil exterior. Jagged moonrocks could do much worse. So when Armstrong saw where the computer was guiding them--into a boulder field-he quickly took control. The Eagle pitched forward and sailed over the rocks.

Meanwhile, alarms were ringing in the background.

"Program alarm," announced Armstrong. "It's a 1202." The code was so obscure, almost no one knew what it meant. Should they abort? Should they land? "What is it?" he insisted.



Scrambling back in Houston, a young engineer named Steve Bales produced the answer: The radar guidance system was pestering the computer with too many interruptions. No problem. "We've got you..." radioed Houston. "We're Go on that alarm."

And on they went. Things, however, were not going exactly as planned. The Sea of Tranquillity was supposed to be smooth, but it didn't look so smooth from the cockpit of the Eagle. Armstrong scanned the jumbled mare for a safe place to land. "60 seconds," radioed Houston. "30 seconds." Mission control was hushed as the telemetry came in. Soon, too soon, the ship would run out of fuel.

Capcom later claimed the "boys in mission control were turning blue" when Armstrong announced "I [found] a good spot." As for Armstrong, his heart was thumping 156 beats per minute according to bio-sensors. The fuel gauge read only 5.6% when the Eagle finally settled onto the floor of the Sea of Tranquillity.

Houston (relieved): "We copy you down, Eagle."

Armstrong (coolly): "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

Immediately, they prepared to leave. This was NASA being cautious. No one had ever landed on the Moon before. What if a footpad started sinking into the moondust, or the Eagle sprung a leak? While Neil and Buzz made ready to blast off, Houston read the telemetry looking for signs of trouble. There were none, and three hours after touchdown, finally, Houston gave the "okay." The moonwalk was on!

At 9:56 p.m. EDT, Neil descended the ladder and took "one small step" (left foot first) into history. From the shadow of the Eagle, he looked around: "It has a stark beauty all its own--like the high desert of the United States." Houston reminded him to gather the "contingency sample," and Neil put some rocks and soil in his pocket. If, for any reason, the astronauts had to take off in a hurry, scientists back on Earth would get at least a pocketful of the Moon for their experiments.

Soon, Buzz joined him. "Beautiful view!" he exclaimed when he reached the lander's broad footpad. "Isn't that something!" agreed Armstrong. "Magnificent sight out here."

"Magnificent desolation," said Aldrin.

Those two words summed up the ying-yang of the Moon. The impact craters, the toppled boulders, the layers of moondust--it was utterly alien. Yet Tranquillity Base felt curiously familiar, like home. Later Apollo astronauts had similar feelings. Maybe this comes from staring at the Moon so often from Earth. Or maybe it's because the Moon is a piece of Earth, spun off our young planet billions of years ago. No one knows; it just is.



Above: Buzz Aldrin and the Eagle. [In stereo]

Truly, much of the scene was weird. The airless landscape jumped out at the astronauts with disconcerting clarity and, as a result, the horizon felt unnaturally close. Worse yet, the whole world seemed to curve, a side-effect of the Moon's short thousand-mile radius. "Distances [here] are deceiving," noted Aldrin.

The sky was equally baffling. Although the Eagle had landed on a bright lunar morning, the sky was as black as midnight. An astronomer's paradise? No. Not a single star was visible. The glaring, sunlit ground ruined the astronaut's night vision. Only Earth itself was bright enough to be seen, luminous blue and white, hanging overhead.

Armstrong was particularly fascinated by moondust, which he kicked and scuffed with his boots. On Earth, kicking dust makes a little cloud in the air--but there is no air on the Moon. "When you kick the surface, [the dust goes out in] a little fan which, to me, is in the shape of a rose petal," recalls Armstrong. "There's just a little ring of particles--nothing behind 'em--no dust, no swirl, no nothing. It's really unique."

Enough of that. It was time for work.

Almost forgotten in Apollo lore are the checklists sewn to the forearms of the spacesuits. These "honey-do" memos from NASA were jam-packed with activities--from inspecting the lander to deploying the TV to collecting samples. Some of the tasks were as detailed as bending over and reporting to Mission Control how it went. They had a lot to do.

Neil and Buzz deployed a solar wind collector, a seismometer and a laser retroreflector. They erected a flag and uncovered a plaque proclaiming, "We came in peace for all mankind." They took the first interplanetary phone call--"I just can't tell you how proud we all are," said President Nixon from the Oval Office. They collected 47 lbs of moon rocks and took 166 pictures. Check. Check. Check.

Right: Buzz Aldrin totes experiments from the Eagle onto the lunar surface. [More]

Finally, after two and a half busy, exhilarating hours, it was time to go. The checklist continued: Climb back in the Eagle. Stow the rocks. Prepare the ship for departure (again). Eat dinner: Beef stew or cream of chicken soup. And finally, sleep.

That was the limit. "You just are not going to get any sleep while you're waiting [for liftoff]," Aldrin said after the mission.

The Eagle was not a sleepy place. The tiny cabin was noisy with pumps and bright with warning lights that couldn't be dimmed. Even the window shades were glowing, illuminated by intense sunshine outside. "After I got into my sleep stage and all settled down, I realized there was something else [bothering me]," said Armstrong. The Eagle had an optical telescope sticking out periscope-style. "Earth was shining right through the telescope into my eye. It was like a light bulb."

To get some relief, they closed the helmets of their spacesuits. It was quiet inside and they "wouldn't be breathing all the dust" they had tramped in after the moon walk, said Aldrin. Alas, it didn't work. The suit's cooling systems, so necessary out on the scorching lunar surface, were too cold for sleeping inside the Eagle. The best Aldrin managed was a "couple hours of mentally fitful drowsing." Armstrong simply stayed awake.

When the wake-up call finally came,

"Tranquility Base, Tranquility Base, Houston. Over."

Armstrong answered with alacrity,

"Good morning, Houston. Tranquility Base. Over."

The long day was done. It was time to go home, to Earth, for a good night's sleep.

Bendita estabilidad de precios - Enrique Gomez

La compañía Chrysler ofrece coches al mismo precio que en el año 2000, algo que nunca imaginamos podría suceder en el México moderno. Algo que no veíamos desde hace 40 años cuando las listas de precios del Valiant no cambiaron durante 6 años (su precio era de 42 mil pesos).

El Banco de México dice que la inflación de junio de 2000 a junio de 2006 llegó al 27 por ciento. Para mantener los precios, la Chrysler debió hacer mejoras sustantivas en su productividad porque acero, plásticos, electricidad, derivados del petróleo y salarios aumentaron más que el índice de precios al consumidor. El esfuerzo de la armadora le redituará aumento en el mercado aunque pierda algo en el margen.

Pero ese nada más es un dato para ilustrar algo más profundo que sucede en nuestra economía: arribamos a la estabilidad de precios y por primera ocasión, desde que se mide, la inflación en México es menor a la de Estados Unidos.

Nunca pensamos que llegaríamos a ver ese logro en nuestra generación. Quienes iniciamos la vida laboral en la década de los setenta hasta quienes arrancaron en los 90, tuvimos que acostumbrarnos a “vivir con la inflación”. Al observar la tabla que publica el Banco de México con los índices inflacionarios mensuales desde 1973, nos asomamos a una historia de penurias y sinsabores.

La tragedia comenzó con Luis Echeverría en 1976 con la primera devaluación de nuestra era. En sólo dos meses la inflación entre octubre y noviembre de ese año llegó al 10 por ciento.

Al final del sexenio de José López Portillo y el comienzo de Miguel de la Madrid volvió a estallar la carestía y entre diciembre de 82 y enero de 83 los precios subieron un 20 por ciento. Pero el año más trágico, del que se desprenden los cambios políticos donde el PRI comenzó a perder elecciones fue al finalizar 1987, seis meses antes de las elecciones de julio de 1988. Entre diciembre de 87 y enero de 88 los precios aumentaron un 30 por ciento.

La economía estaba estancada, los ajustes salariales, cuando se daban, ya habían perdido parte de su beneficio. Fue una época de empobrecimiento para la mayoría y de ventaja y especulación para quienes podían comprar dólares.

La debacle del fin de sexenio de Carlos Salinas trajo otra tragedia en precios. La devaluación del 20 de diciembre de 1994 produjo recesión, despidos masivos, pérdida de vivienda y propiedades para personas y empresas. Terminamos cargando la deuda del Fobaproa. Tuvimos que bregar fuerte durante tres años para iniciar de nuevo el crecimiento con estabilidad. Este año culminan muchos sacrificios para llegar a una meta insospechada. Cuando escuchábamos al gobernador del Banco de México, Guillermo Ortiz, que se proponía la meta de igualar nuestra inflación con la de nuestros vecinos comerciales, pensábamos que de plano deliraba.

Según los datos del Departamento del Trabajo de Estados Unidos, la inflación anualizada en el vecino país llegó al 4.2 por ciento al terminar mayo. Según el Banco de México, aquí la inflación anualizada a junio es del 3.15 por ciento.

Incluso la estabilidad en el precio del dólar se justifica. En julio de 2000 el dólar valía 9.40 y la diferencia de inflaciones en estos seis años es apenas del 10 por ciento. Si las cosas permanecen y el Gobierno mantiene su equilibrio fiscal, es probable que en el futuro el peso no se devalúe y se mantenga rondando los 11 pesos. Sin duda será el mejor legado del gobierno de Vicente Fox.