Good-bye 2010, Welcome 2011

The year 2010 was not good. We were blasted by earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, typhoons, blizzards, landslides and drought.

What was the toll on human lives?

According to Associated Press, nearly 260,000 people died. The year 2010 was the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters in than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.

What was the toll on our economies?

Natural disasters in 2010 caused $222-billion (U.S.) in economic losses. The reason it was not higher because some of these disasters hit poor countries like Haiti. These areas are without heavy insurance.

According to experts, this is a classic sign of man-made global warming. Mother Nature is just doing its thing – reacting to the damage we have done to our environment. These statistics do not take into account the collateral damage to mental and physical health of the people who survived these disasters.

The current world population has reached 6.8 billion. Population in the world is currently growing at a rate of around 1.15 per cent per year. The average annual population change is currently estimated at over 77 million. If you visit http://www.worldometers.info/population/ you will find out everything you need to know about the growth of human population on this planet.

In spite of all the disasters we talked about, life goes on for most people. So do not give up hope.

Look at the amount of money spent in the month of December to celebrate Christmas and New Year all over the world. Probably billions of dollars were infused into the economies of the world thus helping people continue to work and make a living.

About one million people were in Times Square in New York on New Year’s eve with champagne bottles spreading bubbles of cheer and hope all over the place. I was in Las Vegas with my family where half-a-million people jammed the Strip to watch the fireworks at midnight. The cost of fireworks was estimated to be U.S. $ 500,000.

Wow, that is some kind of money to blow it away in smoke. But, the idea was to make people happy and give them hope for the future.

While I was waiting at the Las Vegas airport for my flight, I picked a magazine to see if there is life after 2010. The magazine was Men’s Fitness with Ashton Kutcher on the cover showing off his biceps. The exclusive article about him is titled, “Ashton Kutcher fights back!” It is not about his wife, it is about his exercise program.

Some of the articles in the magazine gave me hope that future should be good. One article is titled, “Build Muscle Burn Fat All Year Long!” Wow, I should be able to lose 52 lbs in one year if I follow the exercise and diet program they recommend.

And there is an article called, “Her Secrets for Better Sex!” I wondered whether this was about losing weight or building muscles while having sex. So I went to that article first. It was neither. It was a survey “to discern just how couples are handling the invasion of gizmos in the bedroom.”

Here is some info from the survey: 39 per cent women would rather give up sex for a year than part with their cell phones, 70 per cent of women have “sexted” with their lover, 80 per cent of women agree that technology creates intimacy faster and there is more but we will leave that for another time. One article is titled, “Balls.” It is about the Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane. Does this give you hope for 2011?

Anyway, let us start the New Year with the hope that there be good health, peace and happiness all over the world. And we should all do something about it.

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Disclaimer: Dr. Noorali Bharwani and Noorali Bharwani Professional Corporation do not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of the information found at this site or the sites listed here and do not otherwise endorse the information contained in them. Dr. Noorali Bharwani and Noorali Bharwani Professional Corporation assume no responsibility or liability for damages arising from any error or omission or from the use of any information or advice contained in this site or sites listed here. The information provided here is for general knowledge. For individual health problems seek the advice of your doctor.