Hendrick Simoes's Blog (9)

It’s Christmas 2020, my outdoor Christmas lights have a mini solar panel at the end of the string instead of a power plug. This mini solar panel soaks energy from the sun during the day and powers the lights for about 12 hours at night. The lights turn on automatically at sunset and can be programmed to turn off automatically after 2,4, 6, 8 or 12 hours. That way there’s no falling asleep accidently…

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Sometimes people just need a way out of seemingly dire situation. Too often the way out requires getting the right information and having connections. A new hotline in Syria is giving Palestine refugee women across the country access to both. The new phone number will give the women access to a lawyer, social worker or member of the women's…

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Evoke was great, I learned a lot, it introduced me to many new resources, and most importantly it motivated me to think that I can accomplish something bigger.

The planned scenarios were great but I would of liked to of seen an occasional spontaneous real time world scenario. Evoke is designed for us to learn…

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I find the following piece of insight from Harvard's guide to crises communication to be very true.

"The relationship between information and emotion is that strong emotion provokes biased information seeking. The stronger your emotions, the more you will learn; but it’s not neutral learning. You’re learning in…

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In Japan many people need do nothing more than tap their cell phone on an electronic pad to use the train or buy a drink at 7-11. In the US that kind technology has been slow to catch on. Verizon has danced with idea but not fully implemented it yet. I find it odd since the latest smart phones can do everything from scan a bar code to making sure my picture frame is leveled. These computers disguising as phone are communication beasts. I can talk on the phone, text and update facebook at the… Continue

Technology today allows us to turn sewage into safe drinking water. Sure it may sound disgusting but its really not. What's truly disgusting is that only 38 percent of the world population has access to "improved sanitation," and 884 million people in the world lack safe drinking water.



For the areas in the world that lack both, building sanitation plants that can produce fresh water is a way to tackle both problems at the same time.



Even for people living in a first world… Continue

In HORSHOLM, Denmark an energy plant incinerrates garbage, creating heat and thus electricity. As an added bonus incinerating the trash is reducing the need for landfills and more importantly to most people their energy bills. Off course one might think that trash incineration hurts the environment by releasing carbon emissions; but not at this place. In fact they claim a home fire place will release more carbon into the environment than their facility. Ive posted the link to the article in the… Continue

According to

the USDA 11.1% of Maryland 's population is food insecure. They are

unable to meet their nutritional needs because of lack of money or

other resources. While we wait for governments and major

corporations to figure out solutions 12.4million of Maryland's children will go

to bed hungry.…



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Aid workers pass bags of rice and bottles of water to into the hands volatile crowds of desperate starving men, women and children. It’s a scene that repeats itself each day in the worlds poor under developed nations. Even here in the US similar scenes can be

found at food banks and in various church basements. The source of this life

saving aid comes from the generosity of the wealthy, but it also comes with a

hidden price tag. The…

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