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Between a general and a president Dwight Eisenhower was the four-star general of the United States army who went on to become the 34th president of the country after a blazing military career that saw him take charge of the Allied Forces during World War 2. His time as the supreme commander of the expeditionary forces in Western Europe oversaw the successful allied attack on the shore of Normandy a year before the end of the global conflict. Under Eisenhower, Western Europe was freed from the grip of the Nazis. Later, this American soldier fondly called Ike, took his place in history as he accepted Germany’s surrender and moved on to command the US occupation zone in Germany. But, according to a BBC profile, Ike wasn’t done with mere military triumphs. BBC writes: “In 1952, the popularity which Eisenhower had gained during the war helped him win the Republican nomination for presidency and then the presidency itself. His time in office was dominated by the Cold War. In July 1953, he agreed to an armistice to end the fighting in Korea… Eisenhower was re-elected in November 1956.’’ The historian H. A. Davies in his book, An Outline History of the World, adds more of the outstanding feats of the Eisenhower presidency: it expanded the American nation by admitting Alaska and Hawaii into the Union to bring the number of America’s states to 50. At a critical point when race relations got to a boiling stage, Ike sent fully kitted paratroopers to enforce a Supreme Court ruling on desegregation in a school in one of the states. But although Eisenhower’s flight to fame found its cradle in the military, Americans and observers of contemporary history have shrouded him in ‘presidential’ robes, hardly in military drill. For, they believe, as Ike himself did when, after a victorious military campaign, he chose to go into politics; that you serve your people best on the platform of their summons through the ballot box. So all through his two-term presidency that ended in 1961 and paved the way for JF Kennedy, Ike was never referred to as General Eisenhower. It was President Eisenhower. To be sure, he struck great feats as a soldier. But his martial accomplishments couldn’t take him where the presidency took him. The presidency took him to the abode of the gods on Mount Olympus, whereas his generalship held him to the ground. Eisenhower himself never sought a look into that past. For it would remind him of a discarded past, a yesterday that reminded him of a period he thirsted for fulfillment. Who would wish for a baneful past in a pleasant present? If then, the media or citizenry should take it upon themselves to dress Eisenhower in his old military garment, it would amount to driving him from the present to yesterday. It would be penalty for perceived breach of a sacred duty. That is the bold point The PUNCH newspaper group was making when it announced that its titles were no longer obligated to address Muhammadu Buhari as president in view of his government’s ‘’assaults on the courts, disobedience of court orders and arbitrary detention of citizens .’’ The newspaper declared in its famous editorial with the title, Buhari’s lawlessness: Our stand:’’ As a symbolic demonstration of our protest against autocracy and military-style repression, PUNCH (all our print newspapers, The PUNCH, Saturday PUNCH, Sunday PUNCH, PUNCH Sports Extra, digital platforms, most especially Punchng.com) will henceforth prefix Buhari’s name with his rank as a military dictator in the 80s, Major General, and refer to his administration as a regime, until they purge themselves of their insufferable contempt for the rule of law.’’ Buhari’s media gaffers and all the others rising to lambast the newspaper understand what it translates into to disconnect an old soldier from his new-found presidential love and return him to his ancient habits. It’s real term demotion. It does greatly matter, contrary to what one of the media aides says. There’s something in a name in this case. A name announces who you are. It also announces who you are not, which is more important, if you ask me. If you are an elected president, donning presidential apparel but your gait, outlook, vision and conversation are incongruent with presidential appurtenances, you are a pretender. I should be worried that I am not dealing with the real man. The hood doesn’t make the monk. The hood and monk must come together to make the monk. The hood without the monk is a pretense, a profanity, a pariah. A man and his presidency must abide in the same boat. They can’t be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Those hitting The PUNCH hard understand what is at play. The newspaper understands too. It is the reason it has decided to take such a strong position. It is a fulfillment of the media’s solemn pledge to protect the people when the other bulwarks of preservation of the land crumble or are cowed into acquiescence. There must be voices to stand up in defence of society. One of such voices has been Wole Soyinka, who himself has lately been recuperating from a blistering shock at Buhari’s ‘lackluster performance’. The Nobel Laureate was among the main characters that created Buhari. That’s where it pains, that what you labour to bring into being turns at you to destroy you and your community. So days before PUNCH, Soyinka began the psychological war that employs titles and prefixes to challenge leaders. Knowing how madly we adore titles, Soyinka, exasperated with the way the Omoyele Sowore has been handled by the Buhari regime, addressed the Nigerian leader thus: President-General Buhari. Did we notice what Soyinka was up to? He refused the president his full regalia to protest his ‘desecration’ of the judiciary when operatives of the executive were running rings around court rulings. So he, Wole Soyinka, master of literary language, also drew a circle of words around our beloved president: President-General Buhari. Pray, what does it mean? Splitting one man into two: a general and a president! I wonder why those at The Presidency didn’t notice it to summon Soyinka to the Villa for questioning. Or did they?

https://thenationonlineng.net/between-a-general-and-a-president/

Politics

en

PHOTO: Getty Images As COVID-19 tests become more widely available across the US, scientists have warned about a growing concern: Many people with negative results might actually have the virus. That could have devastating implications as a global recession looms and governments wrangle with the question of when to reopen economies shuttered as billions of people were ordered to stay home in an effort to break transmission of the deadly disease. The majority of tests around the world use a technology called PCR, which detects pieces of the coronavirus in mucus samples. But “there are a lot of things that impact whether or not the test actually picks up the virus,” Priya Sampathkumar, an infectious diseases specialist at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, told AFP. “It depends on how much virus the person is shedding (through sneezing, coughing and other bodily functions), how the test was collected and whether it was done appropriately by someone used to collecting these swabs, and then how long it sat in transport,” she said. The virus has only been spreading among humans for four months and therefore studies about test reliability are still considered preliminary. Early reports from China suggest its sensitivity, meaning how well it is able to return positive results when the virus is present, is somewhere around 60 to 70 percent. Different companies around the world are now producing slightly different tests, so it’s hard to have a precise overall figure. But even if it were possible to increase the sensitivity to 90 percent, the magnitude of risk remains substantial as the number of people tested grows, Sampathkumar argued in a paper published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. “In California, estimates say the rate of COVID-19 infection may exceed 50 percent by mid-May 2020,” she said. With 40 million people, “even if only one percent of the population was tested, 20,000 false-negative results would be expected.” This makes it critical for clinicians to base their diagnosis on more than just the test: they must also examine a patient’s symptoms, their potential exposure history, imaging and other lab work. – Timing is everything – Part of the problem lies in locating the virus as its area of highest concentration shifts within the body. The main nasal swab tests examine the nasopharynx, where the back of the nose meets the top of the throat. This requires a trained hand to perform and some portion of the false negatives arises from improper procedure. But even if done correctly, the swab may produce a false negative. That’s because as the disease progresses, the virus passes from the upper to the lower respiratory system. In these cases, the patient may be asked to try to cough up sputum — mucus from the lower lungs — or doctors may need to take a sample more invasively, when a patient is under sedation. Daniel Brenner, an emergency physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, described to AFP taking a test after performing a procedure called a bronchoalveolar lavage. This was done on a patient whose nasal swab returned negative three times, but who showed all the signs of COVID-19. Eventually, the patient’s medical team placed a camera down his windpipe to examine the lungs, then sprayed fluid in and sucked out the secretions, which were then tested, resulting in a positive. – No perfect test – Uncertainty in clinical diagnoses is not new, and clinicians are well aware that no type of test for any condition can be considered perfect. What makes COVID-19 different is its newness, said Sampathkumar. “Most of the time when you have tests, you have test characteristics outlined carefully and warnings about tests interpretation,” she said. “We had no test for so long, and when we got the test, we started using it widely and sort of forgot the basics.” After being slow to start mass testing, the US has ramped up production and has tested almost 2.5 million people, with pharmacists now authorized to carry out the procedure. But “the real fear of that is people who are given a false negative test and then decide that they’re safe to go around their daily life and go out and expose people,” said Brenner. Much hope is placed on newly available serological tests which look for antibodies produced by a person’s body in response to the virus and can tell whether a person was infected, long after they recovered. They could also be used to help diagnose a person who is currently infected but whose PCR test results showed a false negative, by waiting a week or so for the body to produce its immune response. “We are excited about the serologic test, but we don’t know how well it will work and we are starting to study it,” said Sampathkumar. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/04/how-false-negatives-are-complicating-covid-19-testing/

Health

en

Africans have been fighting slavery since early ADs. Lourenço da Silva Mendouça, the First world Abolitionist, was a Prince from the royal family of Ndongo Kingdom in Angola. He had successfully convinced authorities to end slavery in Europe. What Nafafé discovered is that in 1684, Mendonça went to the Vatican, where he accused the nations involved in the trans Atlantic slave trade of crimes against humanity. It was not just a petition, it became court cases, undertaken by Black Africans and supported through highly organized international solidarity. Why the Vatican? It was Pope VI who had issued Papal Bull that authorized Spain and Portugal to colonize and enslave Africa, America and the Natives in 1493 AD. Muhammed Ali was on Mike Douglas Show with Sly of The Family Stone as co-host when he complained about Slavery. One of the guests, Rep. Wayne L. Hays, claimed the African Chiefs were paid. What he did not say is that the slave raiders went back, captured the Chiefs and sold them into the plantations as the other slaves. Nafafé explained that “It has never been previously established by historians that Mendonça was an African, which is really incredible – that in the 1600s you had this African man who traveled all over Europe to mobilize an activist movement for the liberation not only of Black Africans, but also of Indigenous people in the Americas ... People always think that the legal abolitionist movement started in Britain, in the late 18th century, but Mendonça really forces us to review our positions on this.” https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/3/10/how-portugal-sil enced-centuries-of-violence-and-trauma Well before 300 AD, Africans had been fighting the Muslim Caliphate from Ghana to Songhai Empires. The Zanj fought and conquered the Abbāsid caliphal empire. Their fight for Freedom and Rebellions led to the Zanj superior power in Mesopotamia that ruled Basra in Iraq into Iran from 869 to 883 AD. It took all combined forces of Arab states before Arabs were later able to overcome them. Bookman, another captured African leader of Maroon and Vodou Houngan, fought for Freedom in Haiti for Independence from France. The wrong notion that freedom for people only exists within the Western Activists is astounding. It is well known in the Diaspora that the Chiefs that sold African slaves were later captured by the same raiders and sold in countries other slaves were. Researchers and genes tracers confirmed many of the slaves in the Americas came from the lines of Kings and Chiefs that sold slaves and were sold into slavery themselves. Many African Americans like the Zanj conqueror of Basra, are aware and proud of their royal blood from Africa. Yet some blame new African immigrants not the raided Chiefs, for selling them out; knowing pretty well that their sellers were also captured about the same time after they were. The African Chiefs that sold Africans into the Diaspora suffered the same fate when the slave raiders brought them into the Diaspora. Stop blaming all Africans at home, many rebeled against slave trade sacrificing their lives like Bookman, at home and abroad. When the African sellers arrived at the plantations, their subjects and fellow African slaves that got there earlier recognized them. Some ridiculed the new arrivals and others welcomed them with hostility. The hostility remained today within African American communities, disrespecting one another and hostile to recent African immigrants. Some African Americans still blame the captured and free Africans that escaped slavery, rebelled and fought against slavery. Muhamed Ali was right, when Sly Stone tried to distract him while answering Rep. Wayne Hays questions, he said: Black people spend so much time attacking one another, some of us become a distraction from the real goal of keeping our energy on the Prize. As the inhumanity of man to man became more vicious, free Africans at home rebelled and ran away as those on the slave ships and in the Diaspora. Indeed, France got reverse reparation from Haiti. Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka was at Cambridge Library Colloquium with Prof. Louis Gate of Harvard University talking about Black on Blacks angers from Nigeria/Ghana to South Africa/other Africans. Prof. Gates raised the issue of recent Africans immigrants. More than forty years after Mohamed Ali and Wayne Hays tangled on the Mike Douglas Show. Prof. Gates, like some African Americans, still thinks the African immigrants that sold them, follow them to America to share their quota. It was embarrassing for all Africans at home and in the Diaspora that the issue is still alive at Harvard of all places. Quota is dead in America. It was threatened by American white students in courts, not recent African immigrants. Indeed, the United States Supreme Court finally nailed it. Though replaced by Affirmative Action, that was also replaced by Diversity for all ethnic groups. The diversity is being threatened by Asians in Court suing that they were cheated in Admission to Harvard; not by the African students. No other ethnic group in America attacks their own from old countries. The Irish created special admission for their recent Irish immigrants just as the Italians, Polish, Ukrainians Americans welcome their recent immigrants. Africans must find better ways to reconcile their differences at home and in the Diaspora. Black on Black crimes must decrease below the level of White on White, Asians on Asians or Natives on Native crimes. People victimize their own at a greater proportion than they victimize others. But Africans have suffered in the hands of others more than any other continent. It is true that the Chiefs sold their own for guns and mirrors to capture more slaves, it does not justify liberty of worst mean spirited habits by individuals to lynch, slash and burn slaves for any or no reason. Indeed, Yoruba tradition cautions that the way a child was born, so was a slave. Bi a se bi Omo ni a se bi Eru. The cry for reparations must be understood as making amends for past injustices, not to displace or favor anyone. Those that have gained from past injustices against Africans and continue to exploit the people and the Continent must look for humane ways to make their profit and pay Africans reparations appropriately to those that are due. Unlike France that demanded and got reparations from its colonies from Haiti to Africa. Despite all the wars Africans fought against the Muslims and Christians coming as explorers and missionaries, sent into the Dark Continent for 500 years, the only miracle is that Africans have not been eliminated from the surface of the Earth. They are strong and resilient. We do not need anymore enemies within. Today we are lured, not forced into slave ships anymore. Most of the new Africans use life savings to buy tickets on Boeing 707 like the looters and their families. The most anguishing part is that Africa, Haiti, and other historically hugely humanly explored parts of the world remain so devoid of prosperity, of tolerance towards minorities, of Justice.

https://www.modernghana.com/news/1183912/slaves-their-seller-chiefs-were-raided-by-arabs.html?_gl=1

Culture

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Our sexuality and gender can form a big part of our identity and those who don’t fit society’s heteronormative ideal can come up against more challenges. Those who identify as LGBTQ+ can be seen as ‘different’ by some, facing discrimination, bullying and a lack of understanding which can lead to mental health concerns. While things in society are slowly moving forward in terms of acceptance, we still have a long way to go. Incredibly, the World Health Organisation only removed ‘homosexuality’ as a formal psychiatric diagnosis in 1992. The fact is, being LGBTQ+ does not lead to mental health problems - dealing with other people’s adverse reactions does. Because of this, those who don’t identify as heterosexual are more likely to experience mental health problems. Here we’ll explore sexuality and mental health in more detail, where to find support and coming out concerns. Sex and relationship therapist Beck Harrison explains how an LGBTQ+ therapist can help with a range of issues, and what to look for when searching for an LGBTQ+ therapist. Sexuality and mental health LGBTQ+ people can be at a greater risk of developing a mental health condition than those in the wider population. According to the Mental Health Foundation, a survey carried out by Stonewall found that half of LGBTQ+ people experience depression and three in five experience anxiety. The reasons for this are complex and not entirely understood, however, most mental health problems experienced can be linked to discrimination, bullying, homophobia, biphobia or transphobia. If you identify as LGBTQ+ and you’re struggling with your mental health, know that you’re not alone. You may be particularly prone to: - Depression - when you experience a low mood for a long period of time. - Anxiety - when you feel especially anxious or worried for long periods of time or at a high intensity. - Self-harm - when you hurt yourself on purpose to cope with difficult emotions. - Suicidal thoughts - when you feel very low and as if there is no way out. You may experience rejection from those around you, including friends, family and work colleagues. Other factors may also complicate things, for example where you live, your ethnicity and religious background. Understandably, this can all have a big impact on your sense of self-worth and your confidence. You may feel the need to hide this part of yourself from others, and this can be damaging in itself. Some people may find they turn to alcohol and drugs to help them cope with difficult emotions. If you’re worried about the way you’re using alcohol or drugs, your doctor, a counsellor or an addiction helpline can offer support. There are hidden covert messages in the media about what it means to be 'normal' which in some way reinforces the message that being different is not acceptable. The notion of 'fitting in' not just in the wider community but within LGBT communities can and does come with its own pressures. - Read more on LGBT mental health. Speaking to a counsellor can help with some of the difficulties you’re facing, such as: - finding it hard to accept your sexuality - coping with other people’s reactions - low self-esteem and low self-confidence - fear of violence or abuse in public places - effects of bullying and discrimination - feeling as if your body does not reflect your true gender (gender dysphoria) If you develop a mental health condition, talking therapies can help you find new ways of coping and either overcome or manage your condition. What’s important is for you to find a counsellor who you trust and feel able to talk to openly about your experiences. For this reason, it can be helpful to check your counsellor has experience working with LGBTQ+ people and/or has had appropriate training. If at any point you feel uncomfortable with your counsellor, remember you have every right to stop your sessions and find a more suitable counsellor for you. I find that people come to me either because they want to discuss their sexuality or gender identity, or because they want that to be understood as something that is a part of them, but it’s not what they’re seeking therapy for. A cisgender, heterosexual therapist will often be able to offer that, but not always. - Jennifer Tomkinson, MBACP (Accred), PGDip, shares tips for finding a therapist if you identify as LGBTQ+ Other forms of support Aside from talking therapy and counselling, many LGBTQ+ people find it helpful to connect with others in the community. You may want to join a support group online or connect with campaigners. There are a number of organisations and charities that support and campaign for LGBTQ+ people, Mind has an excellent list of resources. Discrimination - what’s the law? Attitudes in the UK towards the LGBTQ+ community do slowly seem to be improving, however, there are still some people who discriminate against others based on their gender and/or sexuality. There is a law against this at work and in wider society - The Equality Act 2010. This protects gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans people and anyone who experiences discrimination because they associate with LGBTQ+ people. You can find out more about what the Equality Act 2010 covers and includes on the gov.uk website. The term ‘coming out’ is often used to describe when you tell people about your sexual orientation and/or your gender identity. For some, it can take a long time to feel comfortable to do this. It’s important to know that you don’t need to come out at a certain time, you simply need to do what feels good and right for you. Having these conversations can be difficult. You may experience unpleasant reactions and even rejection in some cases. This can make coming out an emotionally trying time. And sadly, for many, coming out isn’t a one-time thing. Every time you meet someone new or start a new job, for example, you may need to consider when or how much of your identity as an LGBTQ+ person you want to share. Despite what may sound like negative repercussions of coming out, this doesn’t happen to everyone. Many people are supported and understood by those they’re coming out to. Hiding who you are, however, can be an incredibly difficult thing to do and can be damaging to your mental health and well-being. I had a realisation that I was gay and that it wasn’t a good thing to be. I began a nine-year battle with hiding the deepest part of who I was. This was one of the heaviest masks I wore. - Read Chris Dudley's experience of OCD and depression. Everyone will ‘come out’ in different ways. For many, it’s a series of conversations that take place between the LGBTQ+ person and the people in their life they want to tell. It’s important for you to come out in a way that feels right for you and your circumstances. Telling someone you trust and believe will be supportive first can be a good idea. They can then provide you with some support as you tell others in your life. Picking a time when you can talk through any concerns and worries is also recommended. Try to keep in mind that although this is likely something you have known about yourself for a long time, for others, it may be a surprise. Initial reactions may be laced with shock, and they may change over time. Creating a support network, whether that includes friends, family members, online communities or professional support (or all of these!) can be incredibly helpful when taking this step. Above all, please remember you are not alone. With greater understanding, kindness and representation hopefully making its way through society - we can only push for progress. - London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard: 020 7837 7324 - Online safety guide for LGBTQ+ community Trust our content We are a PIF TICK 'trusted information creator'. This means you can be assured that what you are reading is evidence-based, understandable, jargon-free, up-to-date and produced to the best possible standard. All content was accurate when published.

http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/sexuality.html

Politics

en

Other forms: terrorists Someone who uses violence, mayhem, and destruction — or the threat of those things — to coerce people or countries into taking a certain action is a terrorist. A terrorist may be motivated by religious fervor, politics, or just plain old-fashioned greed. Terrorist has at its root the word "terror," which comes from the Latin word terrorem, meaning great fear. Great fear is exactly what terrorists hope to create so they can manipulate the situation to their benefit. The label terrorist is a subjective one. To the British, the American colonists who destroyed shiploads of tea in Boston Harbor in 1773 were terrorists. To colonists, they were patriots and heroes.

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/terrorist

Politics

en

By Chioma Obinna A new study released by the Lancet has shown that in 2022, more than 1 billion people in the world are now living with obesity. It showed that worldwide, obesity among adults has more than doubled since 1990, and has quadrupled among children and adolescents (5 to 19 years of age). The data also showed that 43 per cent of adults were overweight in 2022. The study further showed that even though the rates of under-nutrition have dropped, it is still a public health challenge in many places, particularly in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Among countries with the highest combined rates of underweight and obesity in 2022 were island nations in the Pacific and the Caribbean and those in the Middle East and North Africa. Malnutrition, in all its forms, includes under-nutrition (wasting, stunting, and underweight), inadequate vitamins or minerals, overweight and obesity. Under-nutrition is responsible for half of the deaths of children under 5 and obesity can cause noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and some cancers. WHO has contributed to the data collection and analysis of this study. Speaking on the study, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the new study highlights the importance of preventing and managing obesity from early life to adulthood, through diet, physical activity, and adequate care, as needed. Ghebreyesus said: “Getting back on track to meet the global targets for curbing obesity will take the work of governments and communities, supported by evidence-based policies from the WHO and national public health agencies. Importantly, it requires the cooperation of the private sector, which must be accountable for the health impacts of their products.” READ ALSO: Obasanjo, Peter Obi hail Chief Imam of Egbaland at 90 He explained that obesity is a complex chronic disease and that the causes are well understood, as are the interventions needed to contain the crisis, which are backed by strong evidence. “However, they are not implemented. At the World Health Assembly in 2022 Member States adopted the WHO Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity, which supports country-level action through 2030. To date, 31 governments are now leading the way to curb the obesity epidemic by implementing the plan. He listed the actions to support healthy practices from day 1, including breastfeeding promotion, protection and support; regulations on the harmful marketing of food and beverages to children; school food and nutrition policies, including initiatives to regulate the sales of products high in fats, sugars and salt in the proximity of schools; fiscal and pricing policies to promote healthy diets; nutrition labelling policies; public education and awareness campaigns for healthy diets and exercise; standards for physical activity in schools; and integration of obesity prevention and management services into primary health care. Speaking, Director of WHO’s Nutrition and Food Safety Department and one of the co-authors of the study, Dr Francesco Branca, said: “There are significant challenges in implementing policies aimed at ensuring affordable access to healthy diets for all and creating environments that promote physical activity and overall healthy lifestyles for everyone. Countries should also ensure that health systems integrate the prevention and management of obesity into the basic package of services.” Branca said addressing under-nutrition requires multisectoral action in agriculture, social protection and health, to reduce food insecurity, improve access to clean water and sanitation and ensure universal access to essential nutrition interventions. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2024/03/over-1-billion-people-worldwide-suffer-from-obesity-study

Health

en

By Sola Ogundipe Happy new year! At times like this, it is usual to make resolutions. A common New Year resolution is to live healthier than last year. Part of living healthier is eating healthier. Consumption of fruits, vegetables, seeds and beans are all essential parts of a well-balanced and healthy diet, but beware that your food id either edible or poisonous and detrimental to health. While most of us don’t think about the way we consume everyday foods, there are reasons behind why we are trained to eat only certain parts of their anatomy. Even during food processing, there are several procedures that strip foods of their poisons to make them human-friendly. People infected with food-borne organisms may be symptom-free or may have symptoms ranging from mild intestinal discomfort to severe dehydration and bloody diarrhoea. Depending on the type of infection, people can even die as a result of food poisoning. More than 250 different diseases can cause food poisoning. Some of the most common diseases are infections caused by bacteria, such as Campylobacter,Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria, botulism and norovirus. Here are some foods to be wary of this year. Avoid eating Red or Blood Clams, regardless if they’re a delicacy. Known to cause hepatitis A & E, typhoid and dysentery, these red clams have been banned in many countries, but could be encountered as sushi. You can be assured of its safety – as long as you have proof that they were safely cultivated! Illegal imports of clams are common in most Chinatown settlements, so be forewarned! Elderberries, delightful as marmalade, wine and pancake syrup, have a dark secret hidden in its branches: cyanide. While it is a beautiful plant, don’t be fooled! This plant, often used in medicinal syrups, sodas and liquors can cause a severely upset stomach if consumed incorrectly. The flowers are the part of the plant used to make all things elderberry. The stems and various other parts of the plant, when consumed, can cause severe stomach issues. Take caution when drinking herbal teas made of elderberry leaves, and don’t even think about eating the unripe fruits and flowers that contain a toxic alkaloid. There are mushrooms called toadstools, some of which are known for being incredibly poisonous. Some poisonous mushrooms can kill; however, some choice edible species are brightly colored, while most poisonous species are brown or white. An important rule is not to consume mushrooms unless you are 100 per cent sure of what they are. Good rules that apply for avoiding poisonous mushrooms include avoiding mushrooms with white gills, a skirt or ring on the stem and a bulbous or sack like base and mushrooms with red on the cap or stem. Always stick to mushrooms you can buy at a supermarket. They should have a flat cap with no bumps, and the gills within the mushroom should either be grey or have a pink hue. Castor oil comes from the castor bean plant also called African Coffee Tree. Castor seeds are poisonous and lethal dose of castor seeds for adults is about four to eight seeds. Castor oil is produced by pressing ripe seeds that have had their outer covering (hull) removed. The hull contains a deadly poison called ricin, a water-soluble toxin. Ricin is extremely toxic. Castor oil does not contain ricin and is perfectly safe, but poisoning from eating the seed itself is rare but possible. One single castor bean can drop a human to his or her knees. Four can potentially kill a horse. Carefully handle and prepare castor oil. Castor beans undergo strict safety guidelines which must be met in order to be placed on shelves. Bitter almonds, when served raw, are full of cyanide. Although the almonds bought at the grocery store contain a small amount of cyanide, it’s not enough to poison you. However, eating too many bitter almonds, may not be so good for your health and may lead to cyanide poisoning. In order to remove the toxins, they must go through a specialized heat treatment. However the risk is great and even though a delectable treat is best avoided. Bitter almonds that have been processed and heated may however be safe for be consumed. Often enjoyed raw, in pies or in other popular treats, cherries are hazardous. Be wary and cautious of their seeds, which contain hydrogen cyanide. Your body can detoxify small quantities of cyanide compounds. If you accidentally eat a cherry pit in a pie or swallow an apple seed or two, you’ll be fine. Actually, if you swallow several seeds whole, you would absorb a minimal amount of the toxic compounds. However, ingesting just one or two freshly crushed pits can lead to death. Cherry seeds that are crushed, chewed or even slightly injured can be a potential threat. Don’t chew on the seeds. Apples and pears An apple a day will keep the doctor away. That is, unless you eat too many of the popular fruit’s seeds. Apples and pears both have seeds that contain compounds capable of turning into lethal cyanide when ingested. Luckily you’d have to really mash those seeds before the cyanide-making compounds can take effect. The seeds within one apple are not enough to become dangerous. Be aware of your apple consumption, and be sure to pluck the seeds as you go. Apples are a delicious and healthy snack when prepared properly. When we think rhubarb, pies and pudding come to mind. Underrated and easy to grow at home, this plant can be great. However, its leaves contain a double-threat: corrosive acid and oxalic acid, a chemical that’s also used in household bleach and anti-rust products. Eating the leaves can cause burning sensations in the mouth and throat, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, and even death. Even cooking the leaves won’t get rid of the acid. Avoid the leaves and look to the stalk. Make sure they are washed very carefully, and never use frost-bitten stalks. Known for their many beneficiary properties, such as Lycopene, tomatoes also contain the poison Glycoalkaloid in their leaves. Glycoalkaloid is known to cause upset stomach and cause severe cramping and nervousness. Avoid the leaves and stems of the tomato plant. They may be used to enhance flavour when preparing dishes, but must be removed before consuming. Potatoes are another vegetable with poisonous stems and leaves. Depending on how they’re handled, potatoes can produce solanine, a natural pesticide that’s toxic to humans. The compound is particularly concentrated in potatoes that have started to turn green, and especially when they’ve begun to sprout. Vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes cardiac arrest are usual suspects The good thing is that aside from looking kind of unappetizing and tasting slightly bitter, you’d have to eat an excessive amount of green potatoes to actually get solanine poisoning. Potato poisoning rarely occurs, but most fatalities have been attributed to eating green potatoes or drinking potato leaf tea. Avoid eating the stem or leaves. Rice often contains arsenic, a toxin that can cause vomiting, abdominal pain, and vertigo when consumed in large quantities. The highest levels are found in brown rice, the lowest in instant rice. Despite the toxin’s presence, it would be incredibly difficult to poison yourself by eating too much rice in one day. That’s not to say nothing bad will happen; consistent exposure to even low doses of arsenic over time can lead to heart diseases and bladder cancer. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/01/beware-poisons-cooking-pot/

Health

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Many people ask why the God of the Bible, who is supposed to be loving and kind, would permit slavery to exist in ancient times. Why didn’t God stop slavery? If he is all-powerful, shouldn’t he have then used his sovereign control of all things to eliminate that which is oppressive? Critics of the Bible will often cite the fact that slavery was part of the Old and New Testament societies and then condemn God for not removing it. So, why did God permit slavery? Moral Standard Anyone? First of all, condemning slavery, among other injustices, implies that its abolition is what ought to be done. It is then a moral issue. But to raise the issue of abolition based on moral reasoning is to imply that there is a universal truth that we can appeal to in order to condemn it. But, where does this universal moral standard come from, and how is it justified? I could make the case that apart from the Christian worldview, such an objective, a non-subjective universal moral standard cannot exist – not in atheism, agnosticism, or humanism, non, of which, can justify universal moral principles. Why? Because principles are abstractions and abstractions require a mind. But, to say slavery is universally wrong (in all times and places) is to appeal to a universal principle. This implies a universal mind: God. Christianity best provides the necessary preconditions for a universal moral base. But, I digress, and the issue remains: Why didn’t God stop slavery in the Bible? Made in God’s image Basically, God permitted slavery to exist and still does, because of the rebellion and sinful actions of fallen people. God allows various things to occur in the world that he does not approve of, such as murder, lying, rape, and theft. In theology, we call God’s moral revelation his prescriptive will. It consists of such things as “you shall not murder,” and “you shall not lie.” However, in what we call his permissive will, he allows people to murder and to lie. Biblically speaking, we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28). And because we are made in His image, we are responsible for our actions and our choices. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God. They exercised their free will and disobeyed him, and sin became a reality along with slavery. But we have to ask, where do we draw the line on what we consider the proper starting point where God ought to intervene and prevent evil. Where we draw the moral line? We know for a fact that murder is wrong. So, should God stop all murder? If we say yes, then what about the thoughts of murder? Should God stop that as well? Or, is it okay to contemplate murdering someone as long as you don’t do it? But is not even the contemplation of murder a morally wrong thing to do? Of course, it is. So, then ought God stop even the contemplation of such evil? Remember, most sins occur because we first think of them before we carry them out. So, ought God control someone’s thinking and stop people from considering doing something wrong in order to prevent it from happening? Or should it be that God allows people to think all kinds of evil are loaded onto them? If so, why is that the right thing to do? The point I’m trying to make is that when people ask why did God permit slavery or stop slavery, then they are asking a moral question about what ought to exist and what not ought to exist. God permits evil in the world, slavery included, because that is the nature of the fallen world that is coupled with our freedom. God gave the garden to Adam and Eve, and it was good. But in their rebellion, sin entered the world (Romans 5:12), and with it came the effect of sin, which has brought pain, suffering, rebellion, death, and damnation. Slavery exists because of the sinful and rebellious freedom of man. The Lord has allowed us to do with their freedom as we desire. And, we ought not to blame God for allowing what we in our sinfulness, as a human race, have permitted. Return to Slavery Page

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Religion

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To achieve the best overall outcome in a lighting installation, it is important to avoid the tendency of rushing straight into luminaire selection before determining more broadly what is required from the system. The use of a structured design process helps to avoid this. The key steps in the design process are: - Identify the requirements - Determine the method of lighting - Select the lighting equipment - Calculate the lighting parameters and adjust the design as required - Determine the control system - Choice of luminaire - Inspect the installation upon completion (and if possible, a few months after occupation, to determine what worked and what didn’t. This is the only way to build up experience to apply to future designs) The five initial stages are considered in more detail in the following lines. This involves gaining a full understanding of what the lighting installation is intended to achieve. This includes the following: - Task Requirements ? - Mood of the space - Relation to shape of space - Things to be emphasised - Things to hide - Direction of light - Interaction of daylight At this stage, consideration is given to how the light is to be delivered, e.g. will it be recessed, surface mounted, direct or indirect, or will up-lighting be used, and its primary characteristics, e.g. will it be prismatic, low brightness or mellow light. Consideration should be given at this stage to the use of daylight to minimise the need for artificial light. Once the method of lighting has been selected, the most appropriate light source can then be chosen followed by the luminaire. The following attributes should be studied when choosing the light source: - Light output (lumens) - Total input wattage - Efficacy (lumens per Watt) - Physical size - Surface brightness / glare - Colour characteristics - Electrical characteristics - Requirement for control gear - Compatibility with existing electrical system - Suitability for the operating environment A number of factors also affect luminaire choice: - Characteristics of the light source and control gear - Luminaire efficiency (% lamp light output transmitted out of the fixture) - Light distribution - Glare control - Finish and appearance - Accessibility of components for maintenance - Ability to handle adverse operating conditions - Thermal management Lighting calculation methods fall into three broad categories: Photometric data for light sources and luminaires is commercially available to contribute to these calculations. There are a wide range of manual computation methods for the calculation of different lighting aspects. These include complex methods for calculating the illuminance from a wide variety of shapes of luminous objects. The majority of these have now been superseded by computer programs (check our free software). The Lumen Method was the mainstay for interior lighting and has remained in use as a quick and relatively accurate method of calculating interior illuminance. Inadequate attention to the assumptions will produce poor results. The basic assumptions are: - All the luminaires in the room are the same and have the same orientation - The luminaires do not have a directional distribution and are aimed directly to the floor - The luminaires are arranged in a uniform array on the ceiling and have the same mounting height - The luminaires are spaced less than the maximum spacing to mounting height ratio nominated in the coefficient of utilisation tables The average illuminance produced by a lighting installation, or the number of luminaires required to achieve a specific average illuminance, can be calculated by means of utilization factors (UF), a UF being the ratio of the total flux received by a particular surface to the total lamp flux of the installation. Lumen method formula // The average illuminance E(h) over a reference surface s can be calculated from the “lumen method” formula. - F – the initial bare lamp flux (lumens) - n – the number of lamps per luminaire - N – the number of luminaires - LLF – the total light loss factor - UF(s) – the utilization factor for the reference surface s of the chosen luminaire Utilization factors can be determined for any surface or layout of luminaires. The “UF” symbol is normally shown followed by an extra letter in brackets, to denote the surface, for example, UF(F) is the utilisation factor for the floor cavity and UF(W) is the utilisation factor for the walls. The lowest surface, the F surface (for floor Cavity), is a horizontal plane at normal working height (i.e. table height), which is often assumed to be 0.85 m above the floor. The middle surface, the W surface (for walls), consists of all the walls between the C and F planes. Although the lighting designer can calculate utilization factors, lighting companies publish utilization factors for standard conditions for their luminaires. The standard method of presentation is shown below. To use this table, it is only necessary to know the Room Index and the effective reflectance of the three standard surfaces (floor cavity, walls and ceiling cavity). Room Index // The Room Index is a measure of the angular size of the room, and is the ratio of the sum of the plan areas of the F and C surfaces to the area of the W surface. For rectangular rooms the room index is given by: - L – the length of the room - W – the width of the room - Hm – the height of the luminaire plane above the horizontal reference plane. If the room is re-entrant in shape, for example L shaped, then it must be divided into two or more non-re- entrant sections, which can be treated separately. Spacing to Mounting Height Ratio (SHR) The Spacing to Mounting Height Ratio (SHR) is the spacing between luminaires divided by their height above the horizontal reference plane. Although it was possible to calculate the luminance of all the surfaces in a room, the calculations were extremely laborious and could only be justified in the most special cases. However, the advent of computer modelling enabled a more flexible approach to lighting design and significantly increased the information available to the designer. - A mixture of luminaires can be used - The luminaires no longer have to be arranged in a regular array - Directional luminaires can be modelled - A large number of calculation points can be considered to give a meaningful uniformity calculation - The illuminance and luminance of all surfaces can be calculate This gives the lighting designer a much greater understanding of what is happening in the room. However there has been considerable research, experience and documentation over the past 80 years that has developed the current thinking in the adequacy of various illuminance levels for various tasks and functions. Although there is some general understanding of the need for appropriate luminance distribution in the vertical plane, there is little information, experience or understanding for many designers to determine: - What the luminance of surfaces should be in varying situations - What is an acceptable luminance uniformity - Whether there should there be a maximum luminance uniformity - What is the desired graduation in luminance - At what point is the luminance distribution of the wall unacceptable It is important in using a lighting calculation program that the output records the type of luminaire used, the location of the luminaires, the assumed lumen output of the lamp, the light loss factor and the aiming points. If this is not recorded you have a pretty picture of the installation and no way of making it a reality. These are programs that create a perspective rendering of the space in levels of detail that vary from a block representation of the space, to photographic quality renderings, depending on the sophistication of the program and the level of detail of the interior to be entered. The programs fall into two basic types: - Flux transfer or radiosity calculations - Ray tracing calculations A Lambertian surface is a perfect diffuser, where light is reflected in all directions, irrespective of the angle of incidence of the light such that irrespective of the viewing angle the surface has the same luminance. A specular surface is a mirror like surface, where the angle of reflection of the light is the same as the angle of incidence. A real life surface is a combination of both surfaces (semi-specular) and has both specular and diffuse characteristics. Some materials are more specular while others are more diffuse. A flux transfer or radiosity program treats all surfaces as diffuse or Lambertian surfaces, as a result their rendering tends to appear flat with soft shadow details. It will tend to overestimate the uniformity. Ray tracing traces the individual rays of light from the source to the eye as it reflects from surface to surface around the room. As a result ray tracing can allow for the specular component of the surfaces. Some programs calculate the entire lighting by ray tracing while others calculate the space on a flux transfer basis and have an overlay of ray tracing of specific areas to improve the quality of the rendering. When ray tracing is added, reflections are added in polished surfaces and shadows become sharper. The programs can show the designer how a specific design will perform but that they cannot reliably be used to assess the acceptability of a design. Irrespective of the form of the visualisation output, it is important that the program provides adequate information to enable the construction and verification of the lighting design. The output should include: - Installation information – the type and location of all luminaires and the aiming information. The lamp details should be included as well as the specific catalogue number of photometric file that has been used. - Light technical parameters – the illuminance, uniformity and other parameters that have been calculated to achieve the design. - Verification information – adequate details to enable the lighting calculation to be verified. This should include the luminaire type, the photometric file, surface reflectances that were assumed, light loss factors, lumen output of lamps and mounting and aiming locations. Go back to Lighting parameters ↑ | Go back to Index ↑ The effectiveness and efficiency of any lighting installation is affected as much by the control system as by the light sources and fixtures chosen. Give consideration to: - Providing multiple switches to control the number of lights that come on at any one time. Using one switch to turn on all the lights in a large room is very inefficient. - Placing switches at the exits from rooms and using two-way switching to encourage lights to be turned off when leaving the room. - Using ‘smart’ light switches and fittings which use movement sensors to turn lights on and off automatically. These are useful in rooms used infrequently where lights may be left on by mistake, or for the elderly and disabled.Make sure they have a built-in daylight sensor so that the light doesn’t turn on unnecessarily. Models which must be turned on manually and turn off automatically, but with a manual over-ride, are preferable in most situations. Be aware that the sensors use some power continuously, up to 5W or even 10W in some cases. - Using timers, daylight controls and motion sensors to switch outdoor security lights on and off automatically. controls are particularly useful for common areas, such as hallways, corridors and stairwells, in multi-unit housing. - Using solar powered lighting for garden and security lights. - Using dimmer controls for incandescent lights (including halogens). This can save energy and also increase bulb life. Most standard fluorescent lamps cannot be dimmed, but special dimmers and lamps are available. If lamps are to be dimmed it is important to ensure that the correct equipment is used, especially when retrofitting more energy efficient lamps. The performance of a luminaire should be considered just as carefully as its cost. In the long term a well designed, well constructed luminaire will be cheaper than a poor quality unit; and the salient features of a good quality luminaire are: - Sound mechanical and electrical construction and a durable finish - Adequate screening of high luminance lamps to minimise discomfort and glare - Adequate heat dissipation to prevent over-heating of the lamp, wiring and ancillary equipment - High light output ratio with the appropriate light distribution - Ease of installation, cleaning and maintenance Reference // The Basics of Efficient Lighting – A Reference Manual for Training in Efficient Lighting Principles – National Framework For Energy Efficiency The VAMC in Northport is looking for virtual training session (a basic overview) on Photometrics and using them, for our Engineering Department. Basically this article, minus the drawing program. Do you have anyone that is wiling to do this for us? It can be a virtual session, we just need to educate ourselves. We are at a VAMC in NY (Long Island) We would be open to scheduling a sales session separately. lighting adequacy study need n our petrochemical plant. pl suggest lorganisation You had mentioned 7 steps in the title but only listed six. Can you provide step 7 An architectural plan of a two floor public hospital with the electrical wiring design diagram as a teaching guide for my electrical engineering diploma class. Really useful since documents in this nature are rare Funny how usually such technical articles published on EE portals, but in real life, applications are dominated by architects or interior designers. Surprised that only Dialux was mentioned and not Relux and other lighting design packages. Perhaps you should do a comparison article ? Criteria for selection of Total Light Loss factor. Amazing article how I can save it? See the blue button ‘Get PDF’ on your left? That’s your answer, create the PDF out of this or any technical article and save it. um very happy to have this article. thank you a million. Amazing information, I need this article to be sent to my email. You can subscribe to full technical articles and you will receive complete technical articles on your email: The article on illumination is good. I have not studied earlier this type of article informative & valuable article, thanks You’re welcome, glad you like it. A very informative article. Concise and complete. Thank you Mark. Wow, this is an amazingly comprehensive article on a topic that is so relevant and so confusing! Hehe, thank you mate :)

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Education

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What was Africa's greatest invention? The first evidence of both mathematics and astronomy are in Africa. The stone circles in South Africa known as Adam's calendar may be the oldest human-made structure. The use of tally sticks and bones show people doing math up to 44,000 years ago. What has Africa given to the world? The earliest human inventions such as the hand-axe and manipulating fire originated in Africa. People in Africa developed inventions used up to the modern day, including fish hooks, bows and arrows, and boats. The most important center of learning in the ancient world was the library of Alexandria in Egypt. Many of the most important Greek contributions to math, science, medicine, astronomy, and more were made in Alexandria. The origin of the human species was on the African continent, and so it should come as no surprise that ancient African inventions were the first in human history. Even the ancestors of Homo sapiens, Homo erectus, had developed wooden tools, stone tools, and the ability to use fire. Physically modern humans emerged in East Africa between 200,000-150,000 years ago. By around 100,000 years ago there is evidence to show that humans had fully developed modern brains and cognitive function. Once human language had developed with toolmaking and use people began to migrate both within and outside of Africa to other continents. Some of the earliest inventions and African technology include hand axes, fishing hooks, bows and arrows, and even boats. Many of the African inventions in history pre-date the use of the written word by tens of thousands of years. There is a long and rich tradition of both oral and institutional knowledge in Africa in medicine, math, and education. Many traditional medicinal practices involved using plants that have chemical compounds used in modern medications, such as salicylic acid, now used in aspirin and kaolin, used to treat diarrhea. In Egypt the ancient polymath Imhotep developed systems of medicine so popular and effective that he was deified in the Egyptian pantheon, and was also recognized as a divine figure by many Greeks and Romans. Also in Egypt, the library of Alexandria was perhaps the best and largest repository of knowledge in the ancient world. In the Middle Ages, Timbuktu, in the Kingdom of Mali, was an important center of learning. The university at Sankore especially thrived in the 14th century under the patronage of Malian king Mansa Musa. The oldest university that still educates students today was founded in the 9th century in Fez, Morocco. Using records from Timbuktu and even traditional games such as Mancala as evidence, scholars have shown that Africa had a rich and complex indigenous traditions of mathematics long before the arrival of the Arabs or later European colonizers. African Technology and Architecture One of the most iconic architectural feats in Africa are the pyramids in Egypt. Just to the south, the Nubian pyramids are smaller, but much steeper and more numerous in modern-day Sudan. Mozambique and Zimbabwe boast of impressive stone structures, the most notable being the complex of Great Zimbabwe. The main mosque in Timbuktu is a prime example of traditional mud brick techniques in parts of Africa. Unfortunately, because mud brick and some other building materials are sensitive to the elements and need constant maintenance, not all of the old structures have survived into the modern day. Egyptian medicine was highly developed through millennia of constant refining of techniques with medicines combined with beliefs in magic. The architect Imhotep was also an accomplished scientist and established the idea that diseases and illnesses had natural causes, and therefore could have natural treatments, as opposed to strictly supernatural ones. These ideas were flourishing in Egypt thousands of years before the works of Hippocrates. Egyptian practitioners of medicine required both education and training in their field. Contributions to Math The oldest evidence of people using mathematics is found with the Lebombo bone in Southern Africa. Radiocarbon dating places the bone between 43,000-44,000 years ago. The bone has notches that indicate a lunar month. Some scholars have even postulated that the first mathematicians in human history were African women tracking menstrual and lunar cycles. Games such as Mancala in West Africa and Gebet'a from Ethiopia date centuries before the Common Era and involve mathematical skill. Even the Yoruba language uses a system of counting that requires mathematical functions to express many numbers. During the trans-Atlantic slave trade, many African scholars were kidnapped from their civilizations and were renowned for their skills. These include the "Virginia Calculator," who was forcibly taken from his home at the age of 14 and re-named Thomas Fuller. Tragically, many of these skills were passed down orally between generations, and the slave trade wrecked many of these educational ties. The Calendar and Astronomy The oldest calendars and evidence of astronomy came from Africa. Scholars are still debating the exact date and meaning of stone circles found in South Africa, known as Adam's calendar. The oldest estimates are up to 75,000 years old, and the alignment of the stones and materials show strong evidence of a calendar based on celestial bodies. As part of institutionalized education in Egypt there was comprehensive observation and study of the heavens, including records of Sun and Moon cycles. The Egyptians were one of the first civilizations to develop a written calendar. The division of days of the year in the Egyptian calendar informed the Julian calendar developed centuries later by the Romans. The Gregorian calendar used in many parts of the world today is a correction of the Julian calendar, and therefor a descendent of Egyptian contributions. The Use of Metal Some of the earliest and most impressive works of technology in Africa involve metallurgy. In the early middle ages (and possibly before) African smiths were able to create ovens that burned hundreds of degrees hotter than their contemporaries. Archeology suggests African societies created high quality carbon steel 2,500 years before the rest of the world. Some of the metal products in Africa would not have a rival in quality until the industrial revolution. In addition to practical uses, metallurgy in Africa had also developed to produce stunning works of art such as the Benin Bronzes in the Middle Ages. While many traditions and education in Africa have been transmitted orally, there were also important institutions of education. The most impressive institutional centers of education was Alexandria, Egypt. A range of lasting contributions of Greek scholars such as Ptolemy, Pythagoras, Eratosthenes, Hypatia, and many more were made thanks to education in Alexandria. The library of Alexandria was the largest in the world and an important center of education for mathematicians, astronomers, doctors, and many other fields of study. The education and library in Alexandria enriched scholarly fields both in and beyond Africa. Human history began in Africa. Ancient African inventions are humanity's earliest technology. From the very earliest times African technology such as the use of fire and hand-axes helped humans to survive and thrive in their environment. Inventions became more complex and spread outside of Africa to other continents. The richness and diversity of inventions in Africa has been developed both through oral traditions and through institutional knowledge. The earliest examples of the use of mathematics can be found with tally sticks used to record quantities, such as the Lebombo and Ishango bones found in Swaziland and the Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively. Possibly the oldest human-made structure in the world is a series of stone circles known as Adam's calendar in South Africa. Metallurgical techniques developed in ancient Africa were of a higher quality than any contemporaries, and evidence suggests that in East Africa people had developed Carbon steel centuries ahead of the rest of the world. Before many civilizations had even adopted writing, ancient Egypt had begun formal training of students, and ongoing practices of astronomical observations and medicine. The library of Alexandria was unparalleled in quality and quantity of ancient knowledge. Many of the most well-renowned Greek scholars gained their best knowledge and training in Alexandria. Inventors in Ancient Africa The human species evolved on the continent of Africa. This means that Africa has been inhabited longer than any place on Earth, so it's not surprising to learn that some of the greatest inventors in human history were living on this continent. The history of African inventors dates back to before modern humans technically existed. It was our genetic ancestors like Homo erectus who invented stone tools and discovered how to make fire. As soon as anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa, they started creating things too. The fishing hook, bow and arrow, and even boats were first invented by Africans long before the advent of written history. Even as humans started migrating out of Africa, those remaining on the continent just kept on inventing. Let's talk about some of the great inventions that ancient Africans produced, starting with medicine. Human groups likely had some sort of medicine since the earliest days of the species, but what we're talking about here is the development of a systematic medicinal culture. The ancient Egyptians have one of the oldest institutionalized cultures of medicine in the world. Professional healers not only used routine treatments for a variety of ailments, but recorded their knowledge as well. This let them establish schools of medicine, with each generation building upon the accomplishments of the last. As a result, the ancient Egyptians could do some pretty advanced stuff. They were able to complete complex surgeries, mend broken bones, and deal with maladies of the digestive, nervous, and cardiovascular systems. These treatments required medical tools and healing herbs and minerals, as well as magical spells. Math & The Calendar Along with complex systems of medicine, ancient Africans also developed systems of mathematics. Ancient Egyptians institutionalized the learning of math, which resulted in monumental architecture like the pyramids. Further evidence of mathematics stemming from Africa is the finding of tally sticks, long segments of bone or wood incised with markings to denote quantities. These simple devices have been found around the world, but the oldest may be the Lebombo bone that was discovered in Swaziland of southern Africa. At roughly 43,000 years old, it represents the oldest indication that ancient humans were using organized systems of mathematics to account for various quantities. In this case, it's widely believed that the markings relate to the number of days in a lunar month. That brings us to another notable invention: the calendar. Ancient African societies had advanced knowledge of astronomy and had learned from very early dates how to present the movements of the Earth, Sun, moon, and stars into an organized system. The earliest evidence of this dates back to a mysterious structure in southern Africa made up of stone circles, called Adam's calendar. It's a large collection of stone structures, assembled into what appears to be an astronomical calendar. It's basically like Stonehenge, but much older. While this remains one of the most controversial sites in Africa, some scholars have proposed that it may be up to 75,000 years old. If this date is accurate, it would be the oldest human-made structure in the world. Metal is pretty useful. Ancient Africans seem to have realized this early on. While humans in other parts of the world did not start fully utilizing metal until much later, Africans were smelting iron nearly 2,500 years ago. Metal tools can be found across Africa where ancient societies began exploiting rich mineral deposits millennia ago. Some of the most impressive ancient metallurgists may have lived in what is now Tanzania 2,000 years ago. Archeological evidence from this region suggests that ancient peoples may have actually been able to make carbon steel by at least 500 CE, if not earlier. The secret was in the advanced furnaces created by African peoples of this region that burned hotter but used less fuel. In fact, the ancient Tanzanians seem to have been systematically producing steel of a quality that would not be matched until England's Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. The last major African contribution we're going to talk about is education. Again, we're not just talking about the passing on of information, humans have always done that. Instead, we're focusing on a systematic, institutional culture of education. The ancient Egyptians began recording knowledge and developed professional groups of academics who specialized in certain areas. Over time, certain regions in Egypt became noted as the centers of education in the ancient world and the first semblances of universities as we know them. The most famous of these was in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. The famous repository of written knowledge in the Mediterranean, the Library of Alexandria, was first constructed around 300 BCE. Even the ancient Greeks often traveled to Alexandria to study and learn. Many systems of geometry, astronomy, trigonometry, and medicine that we still use today were established in Alexandria by scholars like Euclid and Ptolemy, as well as dozens of African intellectuals. With educational centers like Alexandria, Africa remained one of the hotbeds of invention and innovation in all of the ancient world. Okay, let's now take a moment or two to review. As we learned in this lesson, Africa is the oldest inhabited continent on Earth, and home to some of humanity's greatest inventions. This list includes individual inventions that range from fishing hooks to boats to carbon steel, but also many of the first organized systems in the world. For example, ancient tally sticks, long segments of bone or wood incised with markings to denote quantities, suggest that Africans had developed consistent systems of mathematics millennia ago. These systems became advanced enough to allow for monumental structures to be built, sites like the African stone circles (called Adam's calendar) that suggest ancient systems of astronomy, while ancient furnaces were so efficient that they remained unmatched until the modern era. Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, ancient Africans established some of the oldest institutions of education and created systems that would redefine human societies and allow for many more inventions yet to come. Register to view this lesson Unlock Your Education See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.com Become a Study.com member and start learning now. Become a MemberAlready a member? Log In Resources created by teachers for teachers I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. It’s like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. I feel like it’s a lifeline.

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Education

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WASHINGTON – An experimental drug treatment can help monkeys survive an otherwise deadly infection with a tropical virus called Marburg, which is similar to Ebola, researchers said Wednesday. The findings in the journal Science Translational Medicine could speed efforts to bring to market a drug treatment against Ebola, a deadly hemorrhagic virus that is sweeping across West Africa in the largest outbreak to date. There is no available drug or vaccine for Ebola, which has killed 1,350 people and infected 2,473 since March in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Guinea and Liberia. Marburg is from the same family as the Ebola virus and also causes severe bleeding, fever, vomiting and diarrhea. Fatality rates range from 25 percent to 80 percent, and like Ebola, it is transmitted via contact with bodily fluids. The study tested a Marburg virus drug, made by Canada’s Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, on 16 monkeys. One group was given the treatment 30-45 minutes after exposure to a lethal dose of the Angola strain of Marburg virus. Other groups were treated one, two and three days following the infection. “All treated animals in all four studies survived,” said lead author Thomas Geisbert, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. – FDA Fast-track – The control group included monkeys that were sickened with Marburg virus but were not given the treatment. They all died, beginning one week after they were infected. The discovery that the treatment worked even three days into the monkeys’ infections shows “real world utility of this technology,” Geisbert told reporters. Experts are hopeful that such a treatment could be useful because symptoms of Marburg virus begin showing themselves around that time. Ebola, too, usually becomes symptomatic within two to 10 days of infection, though the incubation period can last as long as 21 days. “The significance of delaying treatment until three days after infection, which is the earliest time at which diagnosis by viral RNA can be detected and those infected show the first clinical signs of disease, is a critical step in triggering clinical interventions,” said Ian MacLachlan, executive vice president and chief technical officer of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals. The researchers published a study in The Lancet in 2010 that showed the same technology could be used to create a treatment that would completely protect rhesus monkeys against Ebola, Geisbert said. For it to be deployed for “compassionate use during this outbreak” in people, there would have to be “a situation where a country or someone would request that from the company,” he told reporters. He added that there were “no problems” in terms of side effects with the doses given in the monkey tests. Tekmira has begun phase one trials to test safety in people, and in March the company said it was granted a Fast-Track designation by the US Food and Drug Administration to develop its drug, TKM-Ebola. The drug works by interfering with how Ebolas grows once it penetrates the cells of the body. Another experimental Ebola drug, ZMapp, works differently, by delivering the body a cocktail of antibodies that target different parts of the Ebola virus. ZMapp has been given to a handful of people who were sickened in the latest outbreak, including to American missionaries, but it is difficult to make in large amounts. Geisbert said the Tekmira product could be replicated “relatively quickly,” given the proper funding. Experts say that getting enough money to pay for trials and development has been a key challenge for drug makers, due the history of sporadic outbreaks in Africa. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/drug-blocks-ebola-like-virus-monkey-tests/

Health

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An experimental Ebola vaccine appears safe and triggered signs of immune protection in the first 20 volunteers to test it, U.S. researchers reported Wednesday. The vaccine is designed to spur the immune system's production of anti-Ebola antibodies, and people developed them within four weeks of getting the shots at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Half of the test group received a higher-dose shot, and those people produced more antibodies, said the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Some people also developed a different set of virus-fighting immune cells, named T cells, the study found. That may be important in fending off Ebola, as prior research found that monkeys protected by the vaccine also had that combination response. Stimulating both types of immune response is "a promising factor," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose employees led the work. The researchers reported no serious side effects. But two people who received the higher-dose vaccine briefly spiked fevers, one above 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39 Celsius), which disappeared within a day. Earlier this month, Fauci told Congress this first-stage testing was promising enough that the U.S. planned much larger studies in west Africa, starting in Liberia in early January, to try to prove whether the vaccine really works. Scientists are racing to develop ways to prevent or treat the virus that has killed more than 5,600 people in West Africa, most of them in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Wednesday's publication offered scientific details about the initial testing of the vaccine candidate furthest along, one being developed by NIH and GlaxoSmithKline. Additional safety studies are underway here and abroad. A different Canadian-made vaccine also has begun small safety studies. Many questions remain as larger studies are being designed, including the best dose and how soon protection may begin, cautioned Dr. Daniel Bausch, a Tulane University Ebola specialist who wasn't involved in the study. Plus, monkey research suggests a booster shot will be needed for long-term protection. Ebola update: Africans migrating cities United Nations to miss Sierra Leone target Remains of suspected Ebola case test negative

http://m.news24.com/nigeria/Lifestyle/Ebola-vaccine-seems-safe-in-first-stage-testing-20141127-3

Politics

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One continent, many nations From Algerian to Zimbabwean, New Zealand’s African-born people form a kaleidoscope of cultures, languages and ethnicities. They represent over 40 countries in Africa, and include Europeans, Asians, Indians and Arabic people, as well as numerous black tribes. Most of New Zealand’s African-born people are white. Some came from Africa’s British colonies in the 1870s, but the majority arrived from South Africa in the 1990s. Pre-1990s: black Africans Black people who arrived in colonial times were probably African-Americans. In the 1960s, study programmes brought some black students to New Zealand. But before the 1990s very few blacks arrived, partly because of New Zealand’s restrictive immigration rules. 1991 onwards: refugees Across Africa, wars and brutal political regimes have driven thousands from their homes. In 1991 New Zealand increased the number of refugees it would accept. Often arriving with few possessions and horrific memories, people came from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, Zimbabwe and other countries in crisis. Starting a new life Refugees face huge obstacles. They may have endured imprisonment and violence, loss of family members, and detention in camps. They have to learn English and adapt to an alien culture. Many are poorly educated, and even qualified immigrants struggle to find jobs. A Somali woman commented that most of her friends were either unemployed or doing cleaning or supermarket work. African immigrants live mostly in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. In 2013 the five largest groups by birthplace were Zimbabweans (8,100), Kenyans (1,650), Zambians (1,416), Ethiopians (1,143) and Somalis (1,104). Through the family reunification scheme, some long-lost relatives continue to arrive and swell these communities. Groups such as the Pan-African clubs offer support, and many religions are followed, including Islam, Catholicism and Coptic Christianity. Playing soccer, performing African drumming and dance, braiding hair in traditional styles – these and other cultural activities connect Kiwis and Africans, and help the new immigrants put down roots in a strange land.

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/africans/page-1Who

Travel

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Once, experts feared that young children exposed to more than one language would suffer “language confusion,” which might delay their speech development. Today, parents often are urged to capitalize on that early knack for acquiring language. Upscale schools market themselves with promises of deep immersion in Spanish — or Mandarin — for everyone, starting in kindergarten or even before. Yet while many parents recognize the utility of a second language, families bringing up children in non-English-speaking households, or trying to juggle two languages at home, are often desperate for information. And while the study of bilingual development has refuted those early fears about confusion and delay, there aren’t many research-based guidelines about the very early years and the best strategies for producing a happily bilingual child. But there is more and more research to draw on, reaching back to infancy and even to the womb. As the relatively new science of bilingualism pushes back to the origins of speech and language, scientists are teasing out the earliest differences between brains exposed to one language and brains exposed to two. Researchers have found ways to analyze infant behavior — where babies turn their gazes, how long they pay attention — to help figure out infant perceptions of sounds and words and languages, of what is familiar and what is unfamiliar to them. Now, analyzing the neurologic activity of babies’ brains as they hear language, and then comparing those early responses with the words that those children learn as they get older, is helping explain not just how the early brain listens to language, but how listening shapes the early brain. Recently, researchers at the University of Washington used measures of electrical brain responses to compare so-called monolingual infants, from homes in which one language was spoken, to bilingual infants exposed to two languages. Of course, since the subjects of the study, adorable in their infant-size EEG caps, ranged from 6 months to 12 months of age, they weren’t producing many words in any language. Still, the researchers found that at 6 months, the monolingual infants could discriminate between phonetic sounds, whether they were uttered in the language they were used to hearing or in another language not spoken in their homes. By 10 to 12 months, however, monolingual babies were no longer detecting sounds in the second language, only in the language they usually heard.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/health/views/11klass.html?ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=print

Family

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Africans & Americans Are Not The Only Ones Stuck On Efficacy Of Chloroquine Most high school science students are familiar with the functions of red and white blood cells. The white cells help fight off infections and other foreign invaders of our bodies. But sometimes, white cell cells overdo it, killing its own cells before infections spread to other organs. This is the advanced study of Cytokines. Chloroquine is not the super drug against the activities of cytokine storms. Other drugs and steroids cortisone have been administered. At the same time, Cytokine storms can cause organ failure: lung failure, Acute Respiratory Distress syndrome (ARDS), kidney failure and cardiovascular collapse or shock. In cases where Chloroquine is already effective in treating malaria, lupus, juvenile arthritis and others, if influenza flu or corona viruses hit, it may be the early drug of choice. But not in later stages of Preexisting conditions: hypertension, diabetes and obesity where drug interactions may make the situation worse. This may be one of the reasons for the strenuous objection to Chloroquine for the treatment of covid-19. Cytokines are small secreted proteins released by cells with some specific effect on the interactions and communications between cells. Therefore, cell immediate response to foreign bodies is to eliminate or kill themselves as a protective mechanism so the disease doesn’t spread to other cells. Certain kinds of cytokines trigger cell death. When you have many cells doing this at the same time, a lot of tissue can die. In COVID-19, that tissue is mostly in the lung. As the tissue breaks down, the walls of the lungs’ tiny air sacs become leaky and filled with fluid, causing pneumonia and starving the blood of oxygen. Some patients recovered after receiving infusions of the rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra, which blocks the cytokine Interleukin (IL-6) receptor, as one of several that soar in the COVID-19 cytokine storm. When the lung becomes greatly damaged, respiratory distress syndrome follows. Then other organs start to fail. COVID-19 patients die from other problems too, like heart arrhythmias but Preexisting conditions make situations worse. An exaggerated immune response to a new virus, bacteria, or another substance that is foreign to the body is, most of the times the cause. The symptoms of a cytokine storm are high fever, swelling and redness, extreme fatigue and nausea. At the same time, there can be organ failure like lung failure, Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome, kidney failure, cardiovascular collapse or shock. Before anti cytokine storms, studies indicated it may be possible to head off the storm altogether by blocking some of the chemicals that can trigger its release, which are called catecholamines. Catecholamines help the body respond to stress or fright and prepare the body for "fight-or-flight" reactions. The adrenal glands make large amounts of catecholamines as a reaction to stress. The main catecholamines are epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and dopamine. Aldosterone affects the body's ability to regulate blood pressure. It sends the signal to organs, like the kidney and colon, that can increase the amount of sodium the body sends into the bloodstream or the amount of potassium released in the urine. While some medical researchers label it a genetic predisposition, others have blamed the hostile environment against Africans in Diaspora as the cause of higher stress than others. But such blame does not explain the susceptibility to the same fatal diseases in Africa. Anyway, most scientists would first prefer good nutrition before treatment. Luckily, most African foods are "organic food" closer to the farms. But the acquired exotic tastes of processed foods from foreign countries makes it worse. Ironically, "organic foods" are expensive overseas. Patients who were taking medications that block the release of catecholamines -- as some kinds of blood pressure drugs do, early before their diagnosis, were about 20% less likely to need to be placed on a ventilator after their diagnosis, compared to others, an effect that was statistically significant. Therefore, finding the effective prophylactic or therapeutic agents would help to control a pandemic of avian influenza (in A H5N1) viruses. Previous reports have demonstrated that the high mortality in humans infected with avian influenza A H5N1 is partly due to acute lung injury or the result of severe condition: Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). There are few treatment choices for ARDS, aside from mechanical supporting equipment and experimental treatments. The use of cortisones is controversial. Even histamine inhibits the release of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF), in a dose-dependent manner by stimulating the synthesis and release of IL-10. Chloroquine acts to raise the lysosomal pH, leading to the inhibition of both the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes and lysosomal protein degradation. However, most government-sponsored clinical trials have shown insufficient prophylactic effects against influenza infection, which is consistent with other studies. To test this, they have focused efforts on chloroquine (CQ), as CQ is the only oral clinical drug that is known to be an autophagy inhibitor7. Currently, CQ and its hydroxyl form, HCQ, are used as anti-inflammatory agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus and amoebic hepatitis. If Chloroquine could be effective for some people in the earliest stages of Covid-19, what about those with Preexisting conditions already in the later stages? Fatal diseases or flu like Covid-19 take more African Lives in Europe and America with high casualties in Africa as seen in Ebola. Though, Nigeria found that Madagascar “CVO reduced cough frequency with the maximum dose tested, producing an effect equivalent to that produced by the centrally acting cough-suppressant, dihydrocodeine,” .https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/nigeria-madagascars-herbal-drink-cannot-cure-covid-19/1915948 Anyway, Russia has approved the first World Immunization by skipping stage Three Trial for wide testing. It has to be confirmed worldwide and the World Health Organization for its efficacy. Otherwise, it might turn out to be another Madagascar bubble before the USA November Election. Disclaimer: "The views expressed on this site are those of the contributors or columnists, and do not necessarily reflect TheNigerianVoice’s position. TheNigerianVoice will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements in the contributions or columns here."

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/amp/news/290678/africans-americans-are-not-the-only-ones-stuck-on-efficacy.html

Health

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Birds of a feather don’t breed together The fascinating phenomenon known as ‘ring species’ is sometimes quite incorrectly used to ‘prove’ evolution. The classic example is as follows. In Britain, the herring gull is clearly a different species from the lesser black-backed gull. Not only can they be easily told apart, but apparently they never interbreed, even though they may inhabit the same areas. By the usual biological definition, they are therefore technically different species. However, as you go westward around the top half of the globe to North America and study the herring gull population, an interesting fact emerges. The gulls become more like black-backed gulls, and less like herring gulls, even though they can still interbreed with herring gulls from Britain. Now go still further via Alaska and then into Siberia (see map). The further west you go, the more each successive population becomes less like a herring gull and more like the black-backed. At every step along the way, each population is able to interbreed with those you studied just before you moved further west. Therefore, you are never technically dealing with separate species. Until, that is, you continue your journey into Europe and back to Britain, where you find that the lesser black-backed gulls there ‘are actually the other end of a ring that started out as herring gulls. At every stage around the ring, the birds are sufficiently similar to their neighbours to interbreed with them.’1 Yet when the ends of the ring meet, the two do not interbreed and so are for all intents and purposes separate species. As you travel west via the route shown by the yellow band, each successive population of herring gull seems more like the black-backed gull. It is clear from such examples that species are not fixed and unchanging, and that two apparently different species may in fact be genetically related. New species (as man defines them) can form. The herring gull and the lesser black-backed gull could not have been initially created as two separate groups reproducing only after their kind, or else they would not be joined by a chain of interbreeding intermediates. There are also observations of other wild populations from which a reasonable person must infer that certain very similar species did indeed share the same ancestor, even though there is no complete ‘ring’. Many have been misled into thinking this is evidence for evolution and against biblical creation. However, some thought reveals otherwise. The key to understanding this is to consider the vast amounts of complex information in all living things, coding for functionally useful structures and processes. Creation as described in the book of Genesis implies that virtually all the genetic information in today’s world was present in the beginning, contained in separate populations (the original created kinds). This information would not be expected to increase, but could decrease with time—in other words, any genetic changes would be expected to be informationally downhill. Evolution (in the normal meaning of the word) implies on the other hand that a single cell has become people, pelicans and palm trees. If true, then this is an uphill process—involving a massive increase of information.2 Change—but what sort? The formation of new species actually fits the creation model very comfortably. The wolf, the dingo and the coyote are all regarded as separate species. However, they (perhaps along with several other species) almost certainly ‘split off’ from an original pair on the Ark—a species representing the surviving information of one created kind. Is there evidence that this can happen, and that it can happen without adding new information, that is, within the limits of the information already present at creation? A ‘mongrel’ dog population can be ‘split’ into separate sub-groups, the varieties of domestic dog (breeders can isolate portions of the total information into populations which do not contain some other portions of that information). This sort of variation does not add any new information. On the contrary, it is genetically downhill. It involves a reduction of the information in each of the descendant populations compared to the ancestral one. Thus, a population of pampered lap-dogs has less genetic information/variability, from which nature or man can select further changes, than the more ‘wild’ population before evolution selection took place. But is it conceivable that such change (which is obviously limited by the amount of information already present in the original kind) can extend to full, complete formation of separate species without any new information arising, without any new genes? (In other words, since evolution means lots of new, useful genes arising with time, can you have new species without any real evolution?) Richard Lewontin is Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology at Harvard. In his book The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change he says there are instances in which ‘speciation and divergence of new full species’ have obviously occurred using ‘the available repertoire of genetic variants’,3 without requiring any ‘novelties by new mutation’. In other words, an ancestral species can split into other species within the limits of the information already present in that kind—just as creationists maintain must have happened.4 In the example we looked at, there is no reason to believe that the differences between the two gull species are the result of any new, more complex, functional genetic information not already present in an ancestral, interbreeding gull population. Because there is no evidence of any such information-adding change, it is misleading to say this gives evidence of evolution, of even a little bit of the sort of change required to eventually turn a fish into a philosopher. Ring species and similar examples actually highlight the great variety and rich information which must have been present in the original created kinds.5 They can be said to demonstrate evolution only to the gullible (pun intended). References and footnotes - New Scientist, 5th June 1993, p. 37. Return to text. - See C. Wieland, ‘Variation, Information and the Created Kind’, Journal of creation 5(1):42–47, April 1991. The usual mechanism proposed is the cumulative selection of ‘uphill’ copying mistakes. However, the observational evidence for such information-adding mutations (as opposed to the occasional loss/defect giving survival value—e.g. eyeless fish in caves) does not appear to exist. On information-theoretical grounds one would expect them to be vanishingly rare if not non-existent. Return to text. - Columbia University Press, 1974, p. 186. Lewontin refers to ‘new mutations’, as he believes that all existing variation came about by copying accidents (‘old mutations’) in the first place. However, that is belief, not observation. Note that a ‘downhill’ mutation can theoretically cause a reproductive barrier (and speciation) without adding any new, functional information. Return to text. - For evidence that this can happen very rapidly, see ‘Darwin’s finches—evidence of rapid post-Flood migration’, Creation 14(3):22–23, June–August 1992. Return to text. - It requires enormous amounts of variation to be already present for selection to result in ‘new’ types. A farmer cannot select for bigger eggs from his hens unless the information for this is already in the genes of some of them. Note that the common ancestor of these two gull species was likely already split off from (and genetically depleted compared to) the original kind. Return to text. Comments are automatically closed 14 days after publication.

https://creation.com/birds-of-a-feather-don-t-breed-together

Religion

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World Water Day: Six side effects of not drinking enough water Drinking water often helps to maintain a healthy balance. Mild dehydration can decrease one’s energy level and mental functioning and increase stress on the body while severe dehydration can have far more damaging effects. To avoid dehydration drink at least eight glasses of water every day as an adult. The importance of water to the mechanics of the human body cannot be overemphasized. It serves as a lubricant to the digestive system and all other body processes. The water in our saliva helps facilitate swallowing, ensuring that food slides easily down the esophagus. It also lubricates and allows edibles to move more freely. The body cells and organs depend on water for their functioning. Without water, living things, including humans will die in a few days. So, when you don’t drink enough water, the underlisted side effects happen. · Low Energy When dehydrated, your energy levels drop, and you might feel too tired to continue on with work. · Higher Risk of Stroke According to study in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders, not drinking enough water and being dehydrated can raise the risk of strokes and prolong recovery time. · Slower Metabolism Your metabolism naturally slows down when you’re thirsty and dehydrated. Since your brain needs water, when it’s lacking it can lead to headaches and fatigue. · Poor Skin Skin needs to stay hydrated from water to look dewy and young. Not drinking enough can increase the effects of aging and make the skin look dry. With insufficient water, collagen can crack, leading to fine lines and wrinkles. · Weight Gain Drinking water can even help you lose weight and lower water retention. So not drinking water can make you add a little weight.

https://thenationonlineng.net/six-side-effects-of-not-drinking-enough-water/

Health

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the proportion of children under five years of age “chronically infected with hepatitis B (HBV)” dropped to just under one per cent in 2019. WHO in a statement on Monday, said this was down from around five per cent in the pre-vaccine era, between the 1980s and the early 2000s. It noted that the reduction marked the achievement of one of the milestone targets to eliminate viral hepatitis in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The statement comes a day ahead of this year’s World Hepatitis Day commemorated annually on July 28 to enhance global awareness of viral hepatitis. The disease is characterised by an inflammation of the liver that causes a range of health problems, including liver cancer. This year’s theme is “Hepatitis-free future,” with a strong focus on preventing hepatitis B among mothers and newborns. To build on the achievement, the global health body is calling for “united and stepped-up action” through intensified efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission. It is advocating enhanced testing of pregnant women, provision of antiviral prophylaxis to those who need it, and maintenance and expansion of access to hepatitis B immunisation and birth dose vaccine. “No infant should grow up only to die of hepatitis B because they were not vaccinated,” the statement quoted the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus as saying. “Today’s milestone means that we have dramatically reduced the number of cases of liver damage and liver cancer in future generations. “Preventing mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B is the most important strategy for controlling the disease and saving lives. “Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must ensure that mothers and newborns have access to life-saving services including hepatitis B vaccinations,” Ghebreyesus said. Globally, more than 250 million people are living with chronic HBV infection, according to the organisation. It says infants are especially vulnerable, with 90 per cent of children infected with HBV in their first year of life becoming chronic HBV carriers. “HBV attacks the liver and claims the lives of nearly 900,000 people each year,’’ WHO added. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/12/faan-begins-palliative-repair-enugu-runway/Chronic

Politics

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The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says more than 300,000 women die annually during pregnancy and childbirth. Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director, disclosed this at the occasion of International Day of the Midwife, which honoured midwives as family ‘partners for life’. He urged governments and development partners to expand midwifery programmes and promote an environment where midwives can effectively serve the needs of women and their families. “Midwives save lives, support and promote healthy families, and empower women and couples to choose whether, when and how often to have children. “They also help avert sexually transmitted infections and prevent disabilities like obstetric fistula, mother-to-child transmission of HIV and female genital mutilation. “Each year, more than 300,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth. “The UN also estimates that some three million babies do not survive the first month of life, and another 2.5 million are stillborn. “Most of them could have been saved by the care of well-trained midwives within the framework of strong health systems,” Osotimehin said. This year’s theme for the Day is ‘Midwives, Mothers and Families: Partners for Life!’ Osotimehin said the Day underscored the important roles that “these women and girls have in preventing maternal and newborn deaths and empowering women to make informed, healthy choices”. “These are critical aspects of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which seek to alleviate poverty and assist the planet, by the 2030 deadline,” the UNFPA chief said. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also reiterated the importance of midwives washing their hands and maintaining hygienic standards. Fran McConville, Midwifery Adviser of WHO, on the occasion of the Midwifery Day, tasked midwives on hygiene, particularly handwashing. McConville said that “handwashing and lack of water and sanitation is a fundamental constraint to quality of care. “As midwives we must work in partnership to improve access to water, sanitation and electricity for all women and babies everywhere. “Worldwide, 30,000 women and 400,000 babies die every year from infections, such as puerperal sepsis, often caused by lack of water, sanitation and poor hand-washing practices,” the WHO official said. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/05/unfpa-says-300000-women-die-annually-pregnancy-childbirth/

Health

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When we hear the statement “Things fall apart”, what comes to mind? Right! we all know it’s Chinua Achebe’s book. The book “Things fall apart”, is one of the first recognised novel, which was written by an African writer. Achebe wrote the book from an absolute African perspective, though there are elements of British colonialism and the activities of the missionaries to convert African people, Achebe focused his theme basically on the end of the traditional Igbo way of life. He portrayed the patriarchy lifestyle of the Igbo folks where women cannot own lands and take up leadership roles, the Igbo culture also supports a meritocracy, promoting people on worth rather than class or status. He also wanted to portray Africans as he knew them and as a contrast to the image given by Conrad Joseph in his book titled “Heart of Darkness”. The Igbo people (and other Africans) were not savages. They had a well-established way of life that the Europeans could not understand and, as a result, had no respect for. Things really did “fall apart” by the end as it became clear to the main character (Okonkwo) that his people will never be able to return to life as it was before the “Scramble for Africa” began. The book has a simple but powerful story with strong characters, great set of event, paced narration and a wonderful spirit for self-identity and self-respect. The book helps in understanding an integral part of the African culture and history. The book has been widely read across the African continent and beyond. If you are looking for a new read by Chinua Achebe, “Arrow of God” is another masterpiece.

https://olatorera.com/chinua-achebes-greatest-book-of-all-time/

Literature

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SCIENTISTS say they have found how the lethal Ebola virus blocks and disables the body’s ability to battle infections in a discovery that should help the search for potential cures and vaccines. A group of scientists in the United States found that Ebola carries a protein called VP24 that interferes with a molecule called interferon, which is vital to the immune response. “One of the key reasons that Ebola virus is so deadly is because it disrupts the body’s immune response to the infection,” said Chris Basler of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, who worked on the study. “Figuring out how VP24 promotes this disruption will suggest new ways to defeat the virus.” The team, lead by Gaya Amarasinghe from Washington University School of Medicine, found that VP24 works by stopping something called “transcription factor STAT1” – which carries interferon’s antiviral message – from entering the nucleus of a cell and initiating an immune response. “This study shows just how nefarious the Ebola virus can be,” said Ben Neuman, a virologist at Britain’s university of Reading who was not directly involved in this study. “Ebola virus carries a small tool that intercepts the cell’s distress signals, and when this happens, it disables some of the most useful machinery that our bodies have for fighting Ebola. That leaves the body with only crude defences that are less effective at stopping the virus, and end up causing much of the damage that can eventually lead to death.” Ebola is one of the most deadly diseases known in humans and has a case fatality rate of up to 90 percent. In the current epidemic in West Africa, the virus has infected more than 1,800 people. So far, 1,013 of these have died the vast majority in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/scientists-discover-ebola-virus-disables-immune-response/#sthash.ru5HhPBG.dpuf

Health

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What is Emotional Intelligence? Emotions are present in everything you think, do, and say each day on the job, in your career, and throughout your life. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is how you handle yourself and others. Your EQ taps into a fundamental element of human behavior that is distinct from your intellect and personality. It affects how you manage your behavior, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions that achieve positive results. People who develop their emotional intelligence communicate more effectively, handle stress and conflict productively, are better team players, are able to navigate change, and also perform at a higher level. The Power of Emotional Intelligence: How EQ Can Transform Your Life We often hear about Emotional Intelligence, but what exactly is it? Can it really impact our success? The answer is, yes! Unlike personality or IQ, emotional intelligence is a skill that one can develop, and it is absolutely essential for personal growth and development as well as social awareness and relational competence. There are four key components: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Self-awareness is your ability to accurately perceive your emotions in the moment and understand your tendencies across situations. In times when you are pushed to your breaking point, are you aware of it? When the sudden moment that frustration or anger peaks or the slow, dull build-up of tension and stress culminates—are you aware of how those emotions are impacting your reactions and behavior? How do those emotions feel physically? Does your heart race or your shoulders tense? The first step in strong emotional intelligence is being cognizant of and quickly making sense of your emotions as they are happening. Then, in those crucial moments, can you effectively manage yourself to control the impulses and immediate reactions of that emotion? Self-management is your ability to use your awareness of your emotions to stay flexible and direct your behavior positively. What if those emotions might be detrimental to the situation or the interaction? Can you pause and reflect before that emotion dictates your reaction? This self-management skill is essential in how you interact with the world around you. Once you have mastered your own self emotional intelligence, social awareness helps you learn about and appreciate other people. Social awareness is about listening and observing people to better perceive emotions and understand what’s really going on with them. Do you have the capacity to recognize, acknowledge and empathize with the person across from you? Are you aware of the “emotions in the room?” Can you see the moment the energy shifts? If you can recognize the emotions of the people around you, you are one step closer to being able to impact that situation. The final component of EQ is relationship management. The ability to be aware of the social factors that are influencing the dynamics in the room are half of the equation. The most challenging element that truly separates highly emotionally intelligence individuals from the pack is the ability to manage social situations successfully. Can you pivot and redirect a conversation in the moment? Can you adjust and shift your behavior to change the course of events? This is the power of emotional intelligence.

http://www.talentsmart.com/about/emotional-intelligence.php

Education

en

In recent weeks, one of the hottest questions about the coronavirus has been focused around, quite literally, temperature. President Trump has suggested that the coronavirus outbreak will be gone by April because “the heat generally speaking kills this kind of virus,” as reported by USA Today. He has appointed Vice President Pence to take charge of the U.S. response to the disease. But, will the coronavirus be responsive to seasonal changes similar to the flu? In short, there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that the spread of the disease will abate with warmer weather. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) notes that “at this time, it is not known whether the spread of COVID-19 will decrease when weather becomes warmer.” COVID-19 is different from the virus strains that cause the flu even though it can lead to similar symptoms of respiratory problems. So, to glean some insights, we need to look backwards to comparable outbreaks. The SARS epidemic, which spread in 2002 across Asia, started in November and continued into July. The outbreak was contained comparatively quickly — only 8,000 people worldwide were infected. MERS began in September 2012 in Saudi Arabia, a country with relatively higher temperatures. “We don’t see too much evidence of seasonality in MERS,” Stuart Weston, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told National Geographic. The CDC says it is is simply too soon to know how COVID-19 will react when it first encounters warmer springtime temperatures. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/485052-trump-says-coronavirus-will-die-off-in-warmer

Health

en

By Sola Ogundipe Lassa virus is a member of the arenavirus family. The disease was first described in the 1950s, and the virus was identified in 1969, when two missionary nurses died from it in the town of Lassa in Nigeria. During 2012 and 2013, more than 2900 cases were reported in widespread outbreaks that occurred across many states. Reports of the outbreak of Lassa Fever in at least 10 states including the FCT leaving 43 dead and at least 100 hospitalized, has necessitated the need for public enlightenment and appropriate information as to protect lives. Lassa fever is caused by infection with the Lassa virus which is spread by wild multimammate rats (Mastomys species), which shed the virus in their urine and droppings. These are common in rural areas of tropical Africa, and often live in or around homes. Once infected, rodents shed virus throughout their life. They carry the virus in their urine and faeces and live in homes and areas where food is stored. The disease can be contacted by ingestion of foods and drinks contaminated by the saliva, urine and faeces of infected rats. Others include catching and preparing infected rats as food, inhaling tiny particles in the air contaminated with infected rat urine or droppings, and direct contact with a sick person’s blood or body fluids, through mucous membranes, like eyes, nose, or mouth. Persons at risk Those most at risk include health workers, families and friends of an infected person in the course of feeding, holding and caring for them. Within three weeks of coming in contact with the virus, symptoms include fever, headache, chills, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, backache, and joint pains. Late symptoms include bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose, bleeding from the mouth and rectum, eye swelling, swelling of the genitals and rashes all over the body that often contain blood. It could progress to coma, shock and death. Lassa fever is suspected in persons who present with above symptoms with a positive history of being in contact with a suspected or infected person or health worker who had treated either suspected or confirmed infected person. Antiviral drugs can successfully treat Lassa fever. The earlier a person presents, the better the outcome of treatment. Prevention and control The general public is advised to take note of the following: * Avoid contact between rats and human beings. * Observe good personal hygiene including hand washing with soap and running water regularly * Dispose of your waste properly and clean the environment so that rats are not attracted * Store foods in rat proof containers and cook all foods thoroughly before eating. * Discourage rodents from entering the house by blocking all possible entry points * Food manufacturers and handlers should not spread food where rats can have access to it. * Report any cases of above symptoms or persistent high fever not responding to standard treatment for malaria and typhoid fever to the nearest health centre. * All fluids from an infected person are extremely dangerous. Health workers are also advised to be at alert, wear personal protective equipment, observe universal basic precautions, nurse suspected cases in isolation and report same to the LGA or Ministry of Health immediately. For more information,contact the Directorate of Disease Control, Lagos State Ministry of Health on 08037170614, 08023169485. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/what-you-should-know-about-lassa-fever/

Health

en

The blue light from digital devices like smartphones could accelerate blindness, researchers found. According to a research by the University of Toledo in the U.S., exposure to blue light continuously might cause poisonous molecules to be generated in the eye’s light-sensitive cells and lead to macular degeneration. Reaserachers said as one of the leading causes of blindness in the U.S., macular degeneration does not lead to total blindness, but can make daily activities difficult. “It’s no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye’s retina. “Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop,” said Dr Ajith Karunarathne, an assistant professor in the university’s department of chemistry and biochemistry. Macular degeneration is caused by the death of photoreceptors, a kind of light-sensitive cells. Photoreceptor cells need molecules called retinal to sense light and trigger signalling to the brain, enabling us to see. “If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signalling molecule on the membrane dissolves,” said Kasun Ratnayake, a PhD student at the University of Toledo who was involved in the study. “Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they’re dead, they’re dead for good,” To protect eyes from blue light, researchers advise people to wear sunglasses which filter both UV and blue light outside and avoid using smartphones or tablets in the dark.

https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2018/08/13/blue-light-from-smartphones-could-accelerate-blindness-study/

Phones

en

More than one and a half centuries after the trans-Atlantic slave trade ended, a new study shows how the brutal treatment of enslaved people has shaped the DNA of their descendants. The report, which included more than 50,000 people, 30,000 of them with African ancestry, agrees with the historical record about where people were taken from in Africa, and where they were enslaved in the Americas. But it also found some surprises. For example, the DNA of participants from the United States showed a significant amount of Nigerian ancestry — far more than expected based on the historical records of ships carrying enslaved people directly to the United States from Nigeria. At first, historians working with the researchers “couldn’t believe the amount of Nigerian ancestry in the U.S.,” said Steven Micheletti, a population geneticist at 23andMe who led the study. After consulting another historian, the researchers learned that enslaved people were sent from Nigeria to the British Caribbean, and then were further traded into the United States, which could explain the genetic findings, he said. The study illuminates one of the darkest chapters of world history, in which 12.5 million people were forcibly taken from their homelands in tens of thousands of European ships. It also shows that the historical and genetic records together tell a more layered and intimate story than either could alone.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/science/23andme-african-ancestry.html

Culture

en

Scientists in California yesterday reported a major discovery that supports the emerging theory that life on earth began in clay rather than the sea. The discovery, announced at a symposium, showed that ordinary clay contains two basic properties essential to life: the capacities to store and transfer energy. With such energy, coming from radioactive decay and other sources, the early clays could have acted as ''chemical factories'' for processing inorganic raw materials into the more complex molecules from which the first life arose some four billion years ago. In their analysis of common ceramic clay, the scientists said they had found evidence that ''mistakes'' made normally and repeatedly in the formation of clay crystals presumably create the conditions by which the material traps energy and holds it for perhaps thousands of years. Such defects in the clay microstructure could also be sites for storing information necessary to direct the chemical reactions and organize the eventual proto-organisms. Biblical Account Recalled So, if the theory can be confirmed, it would seem that an accumulation of chemical mistakes led to life on earth. The theory is also evocative of the biblical account of the Creation. In Genesis, it is written, ''And the Lord God formed man of dust of the ground,'' and in common usage this primordial dust is called clay. The chemists and biologists who made the discovery, however, emphasized that their findings did not prove the clay-life theory but did make it a more reasonable explanation worthy of further research. The research was conducted by a team of scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center in Mountainview, Calif., where studies of the origin of life have been under way for years in part to learn how to search for life on other worlds. The leader was Dr. Lelia Coyne, a research associate at Ames and also at San Jose State University. She described the findings, the result of research begun in the 1970's, at a symposium held at Ames and in a telephone interview.

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/03/us/new-finding-backs-idea-that-life-started-in-clay-rather-than-sea.html

Religion

en

In recent years, the fashion industry has faced increasing scrutiny due to its negative environmental and social impacts. However, a new movement has emerged, championing eco-friendly and ethical fashion practices. Sustainable fashion aims to create clothing and accessories that have a reduced carbon footprint, are made from sustainable materials, utilize recycling, and adhere to fair trade principles. This essay will explore the rise of sustainable fashion and highlight its significance in promoting a more conscious and responsible industry. One of the pillars of sustainable fashion is the use of environmentally friendly materials. Conventional textile production relies heavily on non-renewable resources, such as petroleum-based synthetic fibers. In contrast, sustainable fashion focuses on utilizing organic and natural materials, such as organic cotton, hemp, and bamboo. These materials have a lower environmental impact as they require less water, energy, and chemicals during cultivation and processing. Additionally, sustainable fashion embraces innovative alternatives like recycled fibers, such as recycled polyester made from plastic bottles, or regenerated fibers like Tencel made from sustainably sourced wood pulp. These materials reduce waste and minimize the consumption of virgin resources. Recycling and Upcycling Another vital aspect of sustainable fashion is recycling and upcycling. The fashion industry is notorious for its throwaway culture, with vast amounts of clothing ending up in landfills each year. To combat this, sustainable fashion encourages recycling and upcycling practices. Recycling involves the transformation of discarded garments or textiles into new materials, which can be used to create new products. This process reduces waste and conserves resources. Upcycling, on the other hand, involves transforming old or unwanted garments into higher-quality items. By reimagining and repurposing materials, upcycling adds value and extends the lifespan of clothing, reducing the demand for new products. Fashion Brands Embracing Sustainability The rise of sustainable fashion has been fueled by numerous brands and designers committed to ethical and eco-friendly practices. Industry leaders like Patagonia, Eileen Fisher, and Stella McCartney have integrated sustainability into their core values and business models. These brands prioritize transparency, fair labor practices, and environmental stewardship. They often work directly with suppliers and manufacturers to ensure sustainable sourcing, fair wages, and safe working conditions. Additionally, they implement innovative strategies to reduce waste, such as zero-waste pattern-cutting techniques or utilizing deadstock fabrics. Through their efforts, these brands demonstrate that sustainability can coexist with style and profitability. Consumer Awareness and Education The growing demand for sustainable fashion can be attributed to the increasing awareness and education among consumers. People are becoming more conscious of the environmental and social implications of their clothing choices. The rise of social media and online platforms has played a significant role in spreading awareness about sustainable fashion. Influencers, bloggers, and organizations have used their platforms to promote ethical and eco-friendly brands, share information about sustainable materials, and encourage conscious consumerism. Moreover, educational initiatives and events, such as Fashion Revolution Week, have sparked conversations and encouraged consumers to ask questions about the origins of their garments and demand greater transparency from fashion companies. The Role of Technology Technology has also played a crucial role in the rise of sustainable fashion. Innovations like 3D printing and digital design have the potential to revolutionize the industry by reducing waste and improving efficiency. 3D printing allows for precise and customized production, eliminating excess materials and minimizing the need for transportation. Digital design tools enable designers to create virtual prototypes, reducing the need for physical samples and minimizing textile waste. Furthermore, blockchain technology has emerged as a tool to enhance transparency and traceability within the fashion supply chain. By recording and verifying transactions, blockchain ensures that ethical and sustainable practices are upheld, from raw material sourcing to the final product. Fair Trade and Ethical Practices Sustainable fashion encompasses fair trade principles, advocating for workers' fair treatment and compensation of workers throughout the supply chain. Traditional fashion production often exploits garment workers in developing countries, subjecting them to low wages, unsafe working conditions, and long hours. Fairtrade initiatives ensure that workers receive fair wages, have access to safe working conditions, and are provided with opportunities for growth and development. By supporting fair trade fashion brands, consumers can contribute to the empowerment and well-being of workers, promoting social justice within the industry. The rise of sustainable fashion signifies a significant shift in the fashion industry, where environmental and social considerations are gaining prominence. Through the use of sustainable materials, recycling and upcycling, ethical practices, and fair trade principles, sustainable fashion aims to create a more responsible and conscious industry. Fashion brands, consumers, and technological advancements have all contributed to the growth of this movement. As awareness continues to spread and sustainable practices become the norm, the fashion industry has the potential to redefine itself, embracing sustainability as a core value and paving the way for a more sustainable future. There are no comments for this story Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

https://vocal.media/styled/sustainable-fashion-exploring-the-rise-of-eco-friendly-and-ethical-fashion-practices

Fashion

en

By Sola Ogundipe Who is stronger, a man or a woman? If you say a man is stronger you are correct. If you say a woman is stronger, you are also correct. Both answers are right, depending, of course on the perspective of your reasoning. Being a man symbolises authority, firmness and toughness. The presence of a man evokes an enhanced sense of security and safety. You can’t argue with any of these. Traditionally, men are tasked with the role of providing security and protecting women and children, not vice versa. Physically, men are averagely bigger, taller, heavier, and are more muscular than women. A man’s bones are stronger and denser and his body is structurally better built to take more physical abuse and trauma than a woman. Men can jump farther and higher, run faster and further than women. Men can lift and carry heavier weights or throw things farther, and can swim faster over longer distances. Men are more aggressive and better endowed to complete more arduous tasks. Overall, men are generally bolder and superior in the endurance tasks, but in the medical aspects, it’s a completely different story. Health wise, the more fragile-boned and softer bodied women turn the tables and come out better off than men. It sounds surprising, but the facts are there. Women, even with the comparative disadvantage of their reproductive life cycle, tend to live longer and healthier lives than men. With changing lifestyles and growing emphasis on healthier diets and regular exercise, life expectancy is also changing, rising slowly but steadily year after year. But one thing that has not changed is the gender gap. Men and women are living longer, but decade after decade; women continue to live longer than men. In fact, the gender gap is wider now than it was a century ago. When taken together, the longevity gap is quite significant. Everywhere you look; there are more older women than men, more widows than widowers. For instance, in America and to a large extent in Europe, more than half of all women older than 65 are widows and widows outnumber widowers by at least three to one. At age 65, for every 100 American women, there are only 77 men. At age 85, the disparity is even greater, with women outnumbering men by 2.6 to 1. And the longevity gap persists even into very old age, long after hormones have passed their peak; among centenarians, there are four females for every male. This gender gap is not unique to America. In fact, every country with reliable health statistics reports that women live longer than men. The longevity gap is present both in industrialised societies and in developing countries. It’s a universal observation that suggests a basic difference between the health of men and women. Not only do men die at a faster rate than women, men die younger. Men are more burdened by lifetime illness than women. On the average, a man falls ill at a younger age and has more chronic illnesses than a woman. The indirect translation of this is that women live longer and healthier lives than men. For instance, the average overall mortality rate is 41 percent higher for men than for women, and it’s also higher for men for eight of the 10 leading causes of death. In addition, American men are 2.1 times more likely to die from liver disease, 2.7 times more likely to die from HIV/AIDS, 4.1 times more likely to commit suicide, and 3.8 times more likely to be murder victims than women. Further, men are nearly 10 times more likely to get inguinal hernias than women, and five times more likely to have aortic aneurysms. Men are about as likely to contract HIV and AIDS as women, but are more prone to gout and three times more likely than women to develop kidney stones, to become alcoholics, or to have bladder cancer. Men are about twice as likely to suffer from emphysema or a duodenal ulcer. Although women see the doctor more often, the medical care cost is much higher for men beyond age 65. The gender gap in health and longevity A man and a woman each have 22 identical pairs of chromosomes. The 23rd set of chromosomes separates the sexes. This final pair contains the sex chromosomes. In women, the pair are X chromosomes, while in men one is an X and the other a Y. The Y chromosome is smaller and contains fewer genes that may be linked to diseases that contribute to the excess male mortality throughout life. In addition, if a woman has a disease-producing gene on one of her X chromosomes, it may be counterbalanced by a normal gene on the other X, but if a man has the same bad gene on his X chromosome; he lacks the potential protection of a matching gene. Advantage: Women. This is also key to the health gap between men and women. For instance, the number of new prostate and breast cancers are closely matched, but women are about 45 percent more likely to die from their disease. If malignant and benign diseases of the uterus and the perils of pregnancy and childbirth are factored in, one would expect that women are the more fragile sex. But they are not. An explanation is the hormonal influence which, however, don’t account for the lion’s share of the gender gap, but they play a role. For instance, oestrogen raises High Density Lipoprotein, HDL or good cholesterol levels, perhaps explaining why heart disease typically begins about 10 years later in women than men. Research shows that in physiologic doses, testosterone may help some men with heart disease. Women who take oestrogen well beyond menopause, when their natural levels plummet, experience an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots. On the other hand, testosterone may contribute to the risk-taking and aggressive behaviour that causes problems for many young men. And testosterone also fuels diseases of the prostate, both benign and malignant. Even so, the testosterone-prostate connection can’t account for the longevity gap, since there are more deaths from breast cancer than prostate cancer. Both sex hormones keep bones strong, but here, men have the edge. As men age, testosterone levels decline slowly, about 1 percent a year, but oestrogen levels drop abruptly at menopause, boosting the risk of osteoporosis. Verdict: Draw Males and females have similar Low Density Lipoproteins, LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels, but women have substantially higher levels of “good” cholesterol (60.3 milligrams per decilitre, or mg/dL, versus 48.5 mg/dL on average). HDL cholesterol protects against heart disease, but triglycerides may increase risk. Diabetes is a major problem and metabolic risk factor for both sexes and its prevalence is increasing in both. But it affects a somewhat higher percentage in men. Obesity is rapidly increasing. The prevalence of obesity is slightly higher in women than men; although excess weight is more of a problem for males. Women tend to carry excess weight on their hips and thighs (pear shape), while men add the excess weight to their waistlines (apple shape or beer belly). Excess body fat is never a good thing, but abdominal obesity is much riskier than lower body obesity, sharply increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Women tend to be shaped well than men. Although obesity is often classified as a metabolic problem, it usually results from unwise health behaviours, another major misfortune for males. Advantage: Women. Work stress can increase the risk of hypertension, heart attack, and stroke. Stress, hostility, and anger have all been implicated as heart disease risk factors, and these traits tend to have a higher prevalence in men than women. Work-related stress and heart-breaking personality factors may contribute to male vulnerability. But as more women enter the workplace and add financial obligations to their traditional roles at home, they are gradually closing the gender gap by moving in the wrong direction. Advantage: Women. Social, spiritual networks Women tend to have much larger and more reliable social networks than men. A study by the New England Research Institute found that 28 percent of women but only 9 percent of men report they can rely on friends for support, and men were 2.5 times more likely than women to lack social support. In general, women are more in touch with their feelings and with other women, and they have a remarkable ability to express their thoughts and emotions. This strong relationships and good communication seem to help explain why women live longer on Earth. Advantage: Women From boyhood on, males take more risks than females, and they often pay the price in terms of trauma, injury, and death. Simple precautions like seat belts and bike helmets can help, but more complex measures involving education about alcohol, drugs, firearms, and safe sex are also essential. Advantage: Women Aggression and violence These are extreme forms of risky behaviour, and they all have many of the same root causes. A man who takes risks places himself in harm’s way, but his unwise choices may not endanger others. Violent behaviour, though, directly threatens the health and well-being of others, both male and female. A man is nearly four times more likely to die from homicide or suicide than a woman, but women are much more likely to be victims of domestic violence. Men need more self-control and anger management if they are to close this portion of the gender gap. Advantage: Women. Smoking This is the riskiest of all health habits. In the old days, men smoked but women didn’t. Times have changed, now women smoke in large numbers and are catching up with men in heart disease, lung cancer, and emphysema. Both sexes are trying to break the habit, but more men (24 percent) than women (18 percent) are hooked on cigarettes. Tobacco smoking is likely to continue fuelling the gender gap for years to come. Advantage: Women Alcohol and substance abuse Like smoking, drinking and drug abuse are self-destructive habits that are traditionally male problems increasingly threatening to women as well. Small to modest amounts of alcohol appear to protect a man’s health, reducing his risk of heart attack and the most common type of stroke. But larger amounts shorten life by increasing the likelihood of hypertension, heart failure, liver disease, various cancers, accidents, and traumatic death. Men are twice as likely as women to be binge drinkers and to become dependent on alcohol. Illicit drugs claim thousands of lives a year and it’s a tragedy for both sexes, but males are 80 percent more likely to abuse drugs than females. Advantage: Women Meat is bad, veggies are good. It’s an oversimplification, but it may help explain why women are generally healthier than men: in most cases, they eat better. Women are about 50 percent more likely than men to meet the goal of eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Advantage: Women Men and women used to get plenty of exercise from their routine, but as men moved behind desks, women who continued to haul shopping bags, climb stairs, scrub floors, and wash mountains of clothes, continued to get the many health benefits of physical activity. But as modern appliances replace muscles at home and women join men in sedentary jobs, women are falling slightly behind in exercise. But most men still don’t come close to getting the exercise they need for optimal health. Verdict: Draw. In the developed world, women are likely to think and do more about health. Women are more likely than men to have health insurance and a regular source of health care. But the reverse is the case in developing countries. A major survey by the Commonwealth Fund, shows that three times as many men as women had not seen a doctor in the previous year; more than half of all men had not had a physical exam or cholesterol test in the previous year; among men over 50 years of age, 41 percent had not been screened for prostate cancer, and 60 percent had not been screened for colon cancer in the previous year; and 25 percent of men said they would handle worries about health by waiting as long as possible before seeking help. In general, men who have the most traditional, macho views about masculinity are likely to be the least healthy. Advantage: Women. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/im-stronger-man/

Romance

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The food we eat is at the heart of many cancers. In fact, up to 70% of cancers are thought to be preventable through diet. The other 30% has to do with genetics and environmental factors that you can’t control. Here is a list of foods you must avoid to steer clear of cancer as shared by www.nutritionexp.com Canned food tends to contain really high levels of salt and/or sugar, but that’s not the main reason it is bad for you. It’s actually the cans that contain the food. They are often lined with the dangerous chemical BPA, which is a known hormone disrupter that has also been linked to cancer. BPA will leech into whatever food comes in contact with it, especially things that are naturally acidic, such as tomatoes. Eat your produce fresh or frozen instead, or only buy canned products that are labeled as BPA-free. Soda drinks are really bad for you. Sugar is necessary in small amounts, but is also cancer cells’ favourite food and sodas contain enough to choke a horse. It also has no redeeming nutritional value and puts you at greater risk of cancer due to the artificial chemicals and colourings that are added. If it’s a caffeine energy boost you need, a much healthier option is lightly sweetened tea or coffee, both of which have anti-cancer properties. To get the bubbles in soda without the negative health consequences, buy carbonated water and add a touch of citrus juice for flavour. Chips aren’t healthy because they contain a lot of salt and saturated fat which is overwhelming to your body’s digestive system. The reason they increase your cancer risk is something called acrylamide, a carcinogenic chemical that occurs anytime food is cooked to a high temperature. Frying potatoes produces a lot of it, but it’s also the reason why health experts advise against charring your meat during cooking. Acrylamide is also found in cigarettes and is part of the reason they are so deadly. Smoked or processed meat Red meat, in general, should be limited due to its high-fat content, but any meat that has been processed is best avoided almost entirely. That won’t be easy because a lot of tasty products are on the list, including bacon, lunch meat, sausage, jerky, and smoked barbecue. A lot of these foods are preserved using nitrates and nitrites, which are linked to cancer. And even though smoking is an age-old technique for preserving food, it causes meat to take on tar in the process. It’s bad in cigarettes and just as dangerous in food. You may be wondering what is left that you can eat, especially in terms of protein, but rest assured that fish can still be a very healthy choice. Naturally lean, it contains high levels of the healthy omega-3 fatty acids that your body really needs. Unfortunately, farmed salmon live an overcrowded, high-stress life and are fed an unnatural diet full of antibiotics and cancer-causing chemicals. As a result, their meat is high in PCBs, dioxins, and mercury – all dangerous stuff for humans to consume. However, wild sockeye salmon is a whole different story, and a great meal choice if you can find it at the grocery store. Much like canned foods, the problem with microwave popcorn is the way it is stored. Most microwave bags are lined with a product called PFOA, which has been linked to the occurrence of pancreas, kidney, liver, bladder, and testicular cancer. When you pop the corn in the microwave, PFOA coats the finished product right along with the artificial trans fat “butter”. Popcorn itself can be a healthy snack, however, if you use an air popper and then toss it with a little bit of garlic-infused olive oil or a flavorful dried herb mix. Whole grains are very healthy, but the processing that creates refined white flour completely strips away the value. White flour is also given its colour by a blast of chlorine gas, not something you want to be eating. Besides being nutritionally void, white flour has an extremely high glycemic index, which means that it breaks down into sugar in the body, spiking blood glucose and insulin levels along with it. This state in the body is thought to feed cancer cells. Try to stick to baked goods that use whole grain flours. High Fructose corn syrup High fructose corn syrup is dangerous because, even though it comes from natural corn, the sweetness is highly concentrated. Foods that contain it are likely to put your blood sugar through the roof and create the perfect environment for cancer cells to thrive. It is not thought to cause cancer directly, but it’s dangerous to create conditions in your body that are ideal for cancer to grow. Avoiding packaged foods and cooking at home is the best way to avoid high fructose corn syrup all together. Excess alcohol consumption is bad for you for lots of reasons. Drinking to excess makes your liver and kidneys work extra hard, not to mention triggers a whole host of bad decisions from your stupefied brain. Studies also indicate that consuming too much alcohol puts you at greater risk for cancer of the mouth, oesophagus, liver, colon, and rectum. How much is too much? In general, one drink per day for women and two for men is considered safe, but there’s no real health benefit to drinking at all. Red wine does contain some heart-healthy resveratrol, but so do red grapes. Pickling is another form of processing that adds nitrates or nitrites, salt, and artificial colouring to food. In much the same way that too much alcohol can cause cancer in the parts of the body it touches directly, pickled foods are linked to cancer of the digestive tract, especially the stomach and colon. If you really love pickles, take the time to make them at home so that you can control the level of salt and avoid artificial pickling solutions. You might think that oil from vegetables ought to be healthy, but this is another case where the processing of natural products makes them dangerous. Oil cannot be extracted from whole vegetables naturally, so they undergo a chemical extraction process. Then, the oil is coloured and the natural scent is removed to make the finished product look appealing. This chemical process is what makes the oil hydrogenated. It is found in many processed foods, added for texture and to preserve them, but hydrogenated oils affect the cells’ structure and flexibility, upping the chance for cancer to develop.

https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/10/15/awo-the-best-president-nigeria-never-had-ojukwu/http://www.nigeriamasterweb.com/OjukwuConfirmed.htmlhttp://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/05/anambra-2017-ojukwu-left-biafra-apga-ndigbo/Read

Politics

en

Off the main road in this unassuming town, a footpath that snakes through the thick bush and trees of the Nigerian rain forest leads to the remains of what is certainly one of the largest monuments in sub-Saharan Africa: a 100-mile-long wall and moat whose construction began a millennium ago. The monument, called Sungbo's Eredo, was erected around a kingdom of the Yoruba -- one of the three main ethnic groups in present-day Nigeria -- and surrounds several towns and villages. Here, the Eredo's earthen bank rises 70 feet in the air from the bottom of a wide ditch, its reddish, vertical wall glistening with patches of moss. Few Nigerians have heard of the Eredo; fewer still have visited it. Much of the Eredo lies in ruin, or hidden in the nearly impenetrable rain forest, ignored by locals and Government officials alike. Over the last five years, however, a team of Nigerian and British archeologists and preservationists have succeeded in mapping the structure after the work of an earlier archeologist piqued the curiosity of Patrick Darling, an archeologist at Bournemouth University in Britain. A carbon analysis of parts of the rampart showed that it dates from the 10th century and suggested that a highly organized kingdom existed in the rain forest at least three centuries earlier than previously believed. Because many ethnic groups and cultures have inhabited Nigeria's territory over the centuries and because the country has drawn relatively few archeologists compared with its neighbors here in West Africa, Nigeria is considered a potential treasure trove.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/20/world/eredo-journal-a-wall-a-moat-behold-a-lost-yoruba-kingdom.html

Culture

en

STUDIES confirm Nigeria as one of the world’s poorest countries. Nigeria has one-fifth of Africa’s population, more than 80 million Nigerians live on less than $1 per day, the standard international bar for poverty. The intensity of poverty in Nigeria was reported in a 2005 study, which states, “80 to 90 million Nigerians live in poverty; only India and China have more poor people.” India and China each has a population of over 1 billion. Nigeria has about 150 million people. Every Nigerian government in the past 25 years or so has promoted one anti-poverty programmes or the other. These programmes, in their originators’ efforts to be seen as different, result in outright cancellation of earlier programmes or are contradictory. Poverty is growing with devastating consequences for both rural and urban populations. Politicians gloss over the issue. They are too wealthy to notice how others are struggling to live. How can politicians, who contribute to policies that neglect the people be concerned about poverty? Poverty’s growth is deep, pervasive, with the combined factors of poor health care systems, corruption and uncaring governments sustaining it. More people are unemployed and unable to meet basic daily needs of food, medication, and even drinking water. Incidents of suicide are being reported more regularly in the urban centres as economic opportunities evaporate. Governments’ commitment to spend funds from debt relief on poverty reduction has no visible effect on millions of Nigerians who never have a decent meal, and cannot plan for their children, who will not be educated and have already joined the poverty queue. “Over the period 1980 – 1996, the proportion of poor peoples rose from 28.1 per cent in 1980 to 65.6 per cent in 1996. This translated to 17.7 million poor people in 1980 and 67.1 million people in 1996. With government’s on-going reform programmes and poverty reduction strategies, the proportion of poor people is still very high about 66 per cent of the population, which translates to about 90 million poor people. By 2015, it is expected that the economic reform programmes will begin to bear fruits and the population of poor people will reduce to about 40 million people,” African Foundation for Population and Development, noted in a paper. The expectations are too optimistic. Execution of projects that would ensure more electricity supply, water, roads and security, to enhance more investments in industrial and commercial activities, which will in turn create jobs and poverty reduction opportunities, are largely ignored. There are no plans or funds for these projects. If the resources were available, some of them cannot be executed in the next four years. Governments’ preference is to tackle poverty eradication in boring speeches at workshops and seminars. Statistics on impact of poverty are deceptive. They fail to note the devastating consequences of poverty, among them crimes, communal clashes, unstable political institutions, and Nigeria’s uncompetitiveness. Nigeria cannot develop with its high levels of poverty. Anyone who envisions a secured future for Nigeria must deal with poverty, which enervates its development. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/03/wanted-a-president-for-nigerias-poor/

Politics

en

Yams were first domesticated by African farmers 7,000 years ago. Today, 48.1 million tons of yams are produced annually across 4.4 million hectares of land in West Africa’s “Yam Belt”—which extends from Cote D’Ivoire to Nigeria, representing over 90 percent of the global production. Yam provides the most important source of dietary calories in Nigeria and Ghana. And for many people in the region, it is ranked third above meat as a source of protein. Many believe that it is important for food security as mainstay of for at least 60 million people and income generation.

https://www.channelstv.com/2020/05/04/covid-19-mysterious-deaths-rock-jigawa-local-council/Things

Health

en

The Jehovah’s Witnesses frequently insert the name “Jehovah” into the New Testament in places that the Greek manuscripts contain the word “kurios” (which actually means “master” or “Lord”). They justify this practice by claiming that the original New Testament contained the Hebrew name YHWH (which they translate as Jehovah) but that the early scribes changed this name to “kurios” when they were copying it. Due to the many early Greek manuscripts and translations of the New Testament that all use “Lord” instead of Jehovah, as well as many quotes from the New Testament in other early writings that agree with the manuscripts, the Jehovah’s Witness theory is all but impossible to support historically. They have, however, found one ancient source that they believe backs up their claim: a Jewish legal code known as the Tosefta. “The Tosefta, a written collection of oral laws that was completed by about 300 C.E., says with regard to Christian writings that were burned on the Sabbath: ‘The books of the Evangelists and the books of the minim [thought to be Jewish Christians] they do not save from a fire. But they are allowed to burn where they are, they and the references to the Divine Name which are in them.'”1 The Tosefta is similar to the Mishna, though the Tosefta was written about a century later. It is a collection of Rabbinic interpretations and applications of Old Testament laws and ritual practices. As is often the case, the Jehovah’s Witness publication does not give a specific citation where one could easily look up their source and examine it in context. Their translation is also somewhat interpretive, slanted to make the reference sound clearer than it is. The passage they are referencing is found in the Tosefta in Shabbat 13:5. It is also preserved in the Babylonian Talmud at Shabbat 116A and in the Jerusalem Talmud at Shabbat 15C. “Shabbat” means “Sabbath,” and as one might expect, it is part of a collection of regulations on what could and what could not be done on the Sabbath. The specific context of this passage is the proper handling and disposing of manuscripts on the Sabbath. Some interesting questions come up. Can one rescue a scroll from a fire on the Sabbath, or is that “work” and thus forbidden? What if it’s a scroll of the Torah (the Law of Moses)? What if it’s an old and unreadable Torah scroll that no one uses anymore? What if it’s a foreign translation? Many possibilities are discussed and weighed out. In this context, the writings of the “minim” are also addressed. Should they be rescued from the fire out of regard for the divine name, or should they burn because they are sectarian? Generally speaking, the word “minim” refers to sectarians of any kind. Sadducees could be called “minim,” as could Samaritans who were not Jews but who worshiped YHWH and used a modified version of the Torah. Christians who maintained a Jewish identity would be labeled “minim,” as would Jewish pseudo-Christian heretical groups like the Ebionites. Thus, scholars interpret this passage in a variety of ways. Are the books of the minim sectarian versions of the Torah? Are they writings that quote from the Torah? Are they apocryphal scriptures that use the divine name? Scholars do not agree. Who are the Minim themselves? Sectarians in general? Samaritans? Jewish Christians? Ebionites? Some otherwise unknown sect of the day? Again, scholars do not agree. This passage is clear that there were “minim” that possessed books that used the Divine Name, but the passage does not define the details of these sects or their books. It is popular, however, to interpret them to be some kind of Jewish Christian group, so let’s assume this for a moment. What does it prove? Properly translated and read in context, absolutely nothing in this passage would suggest that copies of the Greek New Testament are in view. Old Testament manuscripts, sectarian writings, interpretive Hebrew translations of Greek Christian texts, or even the many Hebrew and Aramaic apocryphal gospels that early Church writers frequently mention are all far more likely in this context than Greek New Testament manuscripts. This passage does nothing to overthrow the vast early testimony that the New Testament writers used the word “Lord” rather than the name “YHWH” in their writings, which would not be uncommon for Jewish writers of their day. Even more, our earliest manuscripts of the Shabbat tractate in the Tosefta or the Talmud are not until the middle ages, a thousand years after it was written. The Mishna, which contains the earliest form of the Shabbat tractate (and also has the earliest manuscripts) does not include this passage. Now, don’t get me wrong here. I think the passage is almost certainly ancient and part of the original Tosefta, but think about what that means. If one is going to accept that this passage has been properly preserved on that kind of manuscript evidence, it would be absurd to assume that the New Testament documents have been so radically altered when they possess far earlier, more numerous, and diverse witnesses! The Shabbat tractate in the Tosefta and the Talmud certainly is a valuable testimony to the Jews’ sacred view of the Divine Name and their attitude toward those they perceived as sectarians. It may well even point to the fact that some early Jewish Christian groups still used the Divine Name in their writings. This would not be at all surprising. In fact, many Christian hymns through the ages have used name Jehovah, and many Christian Bibles have translated YWHW in the Old Testament as “Jehovah” or as “Yahweh.” Christians do not flee from using and revering God’s name, but we do seek to honor God’s word by translating it as He chose to reveal it rather than altering it to suit the imbalance of our own traditions. God inspired the New Testament writings without using the name YHWH. Any agenda that requires us to add into the Bible what God Himself left out so as to “restore the truth” is unbiblical and is not Christian.

http://ow.ly/HRlG50MjEU2

Religion

en

Either for hobby or as a real opportunity to find a job, with countless resources on the internet (most of them free), learning a new programming language has never been as easy as it is today. But even with the overwhelming information that’s out there, choosing a programming language to learn can be a daunting task. Especially if it’s the first language that someone is learning. A good programming language to start with should be one that teaches best practices and common paradigms and designs that can be found on all other languages. Some people may prefer a language that has a clearer syntax, like Python for example others may prefer a language that is more verbose but that teaches a lot on what is happening “under the hood” like C. Languages that have an easier syntax especially have a lot more tutorials and resources to learn for beginners than languages that may be a little more complex as syntax goes.

http://www.slant.co/topics/25/~what-is-the-best-programming-language-to-learn-first

Programming

en

Can grow up to 4ft long! Glass Lizard Scientific Classification - Scientific Name Read our Complete Guide to Classification of Animals. Glass Lizard Conservation Status Glass Lizard Facts “The glass lizard has no legs but is not a snake, making it a unique and interesting member of the reptile kingdom.” The glass lizard is a legless reptile that’s native to North America. This intelligent lizard dwells everywhere between the rocky beaches of Florida to the grassy expanses of the Midwest. Hidden in these places, the Ophisaurus waits patiently for its prey: insects, spiders, and other small creatures that crawl in the damp spaces underground. These lizards are known for having long tails that comprise most of their bodies. Although it’s possible for one of these tails to regrow if it gets broken off, the truth is that the new tail will have neither the same markings nor reach the same length as the original. Because of this, responsible handlers take great care to avoid harming any glass lizards they meet. These lizards are not known to bite humans if approached with a friendly attitude. Luckily, Ophisaurus is a resourceful species that has managed to successfully spread across America’s warm and moderate climates. You can tell that you’re looking at a glass lizard if its eyes can open and close; this is something that a snake simply cannot do. Incredible Glass Lizard Facts! - Glass lizards have eyes that can open and close; that’s how you know they’re lizards and not snakes. - Glass lizards are shy and squirmy, but they don’t usually bite humans, even when they’re picked up. - Although glass lizards are legless, some of them have a small pair of legs located near their rear vents. - Glass lizards’ tails break off as a survival mechanism when they are caught by a predator. The tail keeps squirming while the lizard gets away; later, the lizard’s tail will regrow. The scientific name of these lizards is Ophisaurus. This name is a combination of two Greek words: ophio, which means snake, and sauros, which means lizard. There are several different varieties of glass lizard scattered across the world, including: - Ophisaurus ventralis: the eastern glass lizard - Ophisaurus compressus: the island glass lizard - Ophisaurus mimicus: the mimic glass lizard - Ophisaurus attenuatus: the slender glass lizard Ophisaurus attenuatus also contains the subspecies Ophisaurus attenuatus longicaudus, which are the longest and most slender glass lizards of all. It’s worth noting that the term “glass lizard” can also be used to refer to members of the genera Dopasia, Hyalosaurus, and Pseudopus, which can be found in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Although these creatures are technically legless lizards, they are not actually related to members of the Ophisaurus genus. Glass lizards can not trace their lineage back to one ancestor from which they evolved. Instead, there are species of glass lizard all over the world that evolved leglessness independently of each other – convergent evolution. Over millions of years, these creatures developed smaller and smaller limbs until they just vanished. Some glass lizards still have vestigial back limbs next to their vents. Snakes actually evolved from burrowing or aquatic lizards during the Jurassic period, so glass lizards may be animals that never evolved into snakes but remained in a stage of development that suited their environments. The oldest fossil of a true snake has dated 167 – 143 million years ago. Glass lizards are long, thin reptiles that come in a variety of colors and patterns. Most glass lizards have brown or gray scales with light speckles and a yellow or cream-colored belly. Many of these lizards also have long, dark stripes on their sides that reach from head to tail. Ophisaurus patterns are regional and often help the lizard maintain camouflage in the local environment. These lizards can grow anywhere between 2 to 4 feet (60 to 121 cm) long. Almost two-thirds of this length consists of the tail, which grows longer as the glass lizard gets older. In addition to the head, body, and tail, some glass lizards may have a nearly unnoticeable pair of legs near their rear vents. Other key identifying features of these lizards include the two longitudinal grooves that run down either side of their body. These grooves allow the lizard’s internal organs to expand, permitting easy breathing and digestion. Aside from these grooves, glass lizards are rather stiff and fragile. The name “glass lizard” comes from the fact that these creatures can be easily broken if they are improperly handled. When this lizard’s tail is caught, it may snap off completely. Ophisaurus tails can continue to wriggle and move for several moments after they are detached. This typically confuses the predator, allowing the lizard to make a quick escape. In the months and years that follow, the tail will regrow, although it is usually much shorter and typically lacks the decorative markings of the original. Glass Lizard vs. Snake If you catch a glimpse of this lizard in the wild, you’ll probably assume that you just saw a snake slither by. Glass lizards are long, thin, legless creatures covered with scales – but this is where their similarity to snakes ends. Unlike snakes, these lizards have moveable eyelids and round pupils that can dilate in the sun. Snake eyes are covered in a thin layer of skin; if the reptile you’re looking at can close its eyes, it’s probably a lizard instead. Similarly, glass lizards have external ear openings on either side of their head, meaning they can rely on sound instead of the ground and wind vibrations that help snakes get around. Finally, the body of a snake is typically far more flexible than the body of a lizard. This is because snakes have compressed organs, stretchy skin, and other features that allow their unique movement. Glass lizards can’t move like snakes, and attempting to flex them in such a way will invariably cause an injury. These lizards are diurnal creatures that are typically active during moderate temperatures. In the spring and fall, they may be around at all times of the day. In the summer, they tend to be active during the morning and evening. The lizards hibernate during the winter months; don’t expect to see one between October and May. Although they hibernate, glass lizards don’t actually dig their own burrows. Instead, they find abandoned burrows left behind by other animals. It’s unclear whether these lizards prefer to live alone or in groups, as these creatures are very good at fleeing when under observation. Glass lizards are shy creatures but are not violent and may allow a human to approach them. The lizards do not bite when they feel threatened; instead, they try to escape. Like other lizards, members of the Ophisaurus family enjoy basking in the sun and may be found on large rocks or even sidewalks during the warmest part of the day. These lizards are endemic to North America and are primarily found in warm to moderate regions, including the midwestern and southeastern parts of the country. Eastern glass lizards are widespread in Florida, Georgia, and the surrounding regions. They tend to prefer wetlands, sandy areas, and similar habitats. Meanwhile, the slender glass lizard prefers to live in the midwest and can be found in woodlands, grassy plains, and other areas with moderate temperatures and good cover. These lizards are carnivores that primarily eat insects like crickets and beetles. However, they also hunt other small creatures, including spiders, rodents, snakes, and even other lizards. They primarily hunt underground but may also look for food in dark, damp areas on the surface. One of the main differences between these lizards and snakes is that glass lizards cannot unhinge their jaws. This means that the lizard cannot eat anything larger than the size of its head. Even the biggest lizards never weigh more than 21 ounces, which makes mice some of their largest possible prey. Predators and Threats The lizard’s natural predators vary based on the region. In general, they avoid raccoons, opossums, hawks, and other carnivorous mammals and birds of prey. Some types of snakes have also been known to feed on these lizards, including copperheads and king snakes. One of the greatest threats to their survival is habitat disruption caused by humans. Deforestation and paving are the biggest concerns; however, insecticides also pose a substantial threat. If these lizards consume a bug that has ingested pesticides, the lizard may also fall victim to the poison. Reproduction, Babies, and Lifespan These lizards are egg-laying creatures that mate on a yearly or bi-yearly basis. The Ophisaurus mating season typically occurs in May, although this may vary based on the speed at which warm weather arrives. After mating, female lizards carry their eggs for one to two months; the clutch of eggs is usually laid in late June or early July. An Ophisaurus clutch typically contains anywhere from 5 to 15 eggs. The mother lizard usually chooses a safe location underneath a covered object like a log or a rock. Ophisaurus eggs will hatch after roughly 50 days. Female lizards stay with their eggs for this entire time period, a feature that is uncommon among most species of lizard. Freshly hatched lizards are only a few inches long and may need help feeding themselves until they are larger. These lizards are sexually mature at 3 to 4 years of age. The average lifespan of a glass lizard is 10 years, but some have been known to survive for as long as 30 years. It is rare for this lizard to go its entire life without needing to regrow its tail, which is why there are no recorded instances of the lizard getting more than 4 feet long. These lizards are not an endangered species. In fact, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified Ophisaurus as a least concern species because they have no immediate threats. With that said, these lizards are still threatened by the encroachment of human populations on their existing habitats. The lizard populations have been dropping across the Midwest, and they are even considered endangered in the state of Wyoming In the Zoo These lizards are common enough to be featured in zoos around the world. From small zoos like the one at Chehaw Park to more prominent locations like Florida’s Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, Ophisaurus can be found in nearly any well-established reptile house. View all 213 animals that start with GGlass Lizard FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) What do glass lizards eat? Glass lizards primarily eat insects, spiders, and other small creatures. A glass lizard can’t eat anything larger than its head, which is why you won’t see one eating birds or larger rodents. However, you might see a glass lizard eating a snake or even another kind of lizard. Are glass lizards carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores? Glass lizards are carnivores. They hunt for bugs and other prey underground or in places where there is plenty of cover. Where do glass lizards live? Glass lizards live in moderate climate regions across North America. Eastern glass lizards are commonly found in Florida, and slender glass lizards are usually found in the Midwest. Are glass lizards venomous? Glass lizards are not venomous or poisonous. They aren’t known for biting, and their jaws are not powerful enough to break human skin. Do glass lizards make good pets? Glass lizards are shy but even-tempered creatures, and they can make good pets if they are treated well. Remember that an Ophisaurus is fragile; if you handle it incorrectly, you could break its tail. How big do glass lizards get? Glass lizards have been known to grow to lengths of up to 4 feet. Most of this length is tail; if the tail breaks off during a fight, it will eventually regrow. Why is a glass lizard not a snake? An Ophisaurus is a legless lizard that looks a lot like a snake. However, if you check their faces, you’ll immediately notice that glass lizards have eyes that can open and close. They also have ear holes and stiff bodies – both features that snakes do not have. Finally, some glass lizards actually have small legs near their rear vents. What Kingdom do Glass Lizards belong to? Glass Lizards belong to the Kingdom Animalia. What phylum to Glass Lizards belong to? Glass Lizards belong to the phylum Chordata. What family do Glass Lizards belong to? Glass Lizards belong to the family Anguidae. What order do Glass Lizards belong to? Glass Lizards belong to the order Squamata. What genus do Glass Lizards belong to? Glass Lizards belong to the genus Ophisaurus. What type of covering do Glass Lizards have? Glass Lizards are covered in Scales. What are some predators of Glass Lizards? Predators of Glass Lizards include birds, mammals, and snakes. What are some distinguishing features of Glass Lizards? Glass Lizards have forked tongues and detachable tails. How many eggs do Glass Lizards lay? Glass Lizards typically lay 6 eggs. What is an interesting fact about Glass Lizards? Glass Lizards can grow up to 4ft long! What is the scientific name for the Glass Lizard? The scientific name for the Glass Lizard is Ophisaurus. What is the lifespan of a Glass Lizard? Glass Lizards can live for 10 to 30 years. How fast is a Glass Lizard? A Glass Lizard can travel at speeds of up to 6 miles per hour. Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us? Contact the AZ Animals editorial team. - David Burnie, Dorling Kindersley (2011) Animal, The Definitive Visual Guide To The World's Wildlife / Accessed July 5, 2010 - Tom Jackson, Lorenz Books (2007) The World Encyclopedia Of Animals / Accessed July 5, 2010 - David Burnie, Kingfisher (2011) The Kingfisher Animal Encyclopedia / Accessed July 5, 2010 - Richard Mackay, University of California Press (2009) The Atlas Of Endangered Species / Accessed July 5, 2010 - David Burnie, Dorling Kindersley (2008) Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Animals / Accessed July 5, 2010 - Dorling Kindersley (2006) Dorling Kindersley Encyclopedia Of Animals / Accessed July 5, 2010 - Snakes Are Long / Accessed November 13, 2020 - Virginia Herpetological Society / Accessed November 13, 2020 - Britannica / Accessed November 13, 2020

https://a-z-animals.com/animals/glass-lizard/

Religion

en

Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world, preserved until now. It is this state that helped to establish Islam by adopting its territory and providing protection to the first Muslims who resettled there because of the oppression of the pagans of Mecca. How is Islam in Ethiopia today? Its story reflected tensions between the institution of imperial power and various power structures, on the one hand, and between the diversity of ethnic, linguistic and regional identities, on the other. This tension, between the tendencies towards centralization and decentralization, has been and remains the main axis of the history of Ethiopia. “Thus, briefly reviewing the history of Ethiopian Islam,” Edward Ullendorf, one of the leading and well-known Ethiopians, wrote in 1960, “this is possible because Islam was no more than an element of secondary importance in understanding the essence of Ethiopia” However, since then science has reached a deeper understanding of the problem, and historians have gained a wider angle of view. He who tries to study the history of Ethiopia only in the aspect of leading Christian culture is content with an incomplete picture. “Islam and Ethiopia,” should deepen and balance our understanding of the problems of Ethiopian history. Islam and its carriers - Muslims played a full and sometimes even decisive role in the history of Ethiopia. Their share in it is constantly increasing. Islam in the Middle East, from the beginning of its appearance in the early medieval era to the present day, was for Ethiopia more than a neighbor, a powerful religion and a great empire, constantly challenging it. In the Middle Ages, Muslims turned into Ethiopia into an internal factor, part of the country's life. Since the beginning of the New Age, the number of Muslims in Ethiopia has steadily increased, and at the beginning of the 20th century, it was equal to the number of Christians. For many generations, the Muslim communities of Ethiopia did not seek to shake the hegemony of Christianity as the state religion and the basis of the official culture of the country, but they achieved great success in the struggle for their own survival in the Christian environment, for incorporating into important areas of Ethiopian life and made an invaluable contribution to the economic development of the country. Islam in Ethiopia seems to have reached unprecedented prosperity and perhaps even rises for the first time to a level that allows it to compete with the claim of Christianity to be exceptional as a culture of the Ethiopian elite. The Ethiopian Muslim historian of our time, Professor Hussein Ahmed, responded to the above statement. In any case, for centuries, the history of Ethiopian Islam revolved around the axis of dialogue between an organized state and the dominant culture and diversity of communities representing Ethiopian minorities. Christianity, beginning with its first steps in antiquity and until the revolution of 1974, consistently realized itself as a religion of the state imperial order, a religion representing a culture based on the ownership of land, agricultural and military spheres. Islam was adopted in the Horn of Africa by those who wanted, as far as possible, not to be absorbed by a system based on the aforementioned values, and to take them as the basis of their existence. By accepting Islam in this corner of the world, various tribes, representatives of certain language groups, nomads, traders, shepherds, certain ethnic groups, etc. The members of these groups or their part defined themselves as Muslims in order to consolidate their own identity, and sometimes even build their own political structures based on the value system of Islam. As a result, Islamic communities were separated not only from Christian culture but also from each other. The Muslim communities of the Horn of Africa were distinguished by a variety of languages, lifestyles, occupations and geographic conditions, and only occasionally overcome the differences and unite. Islam, born in the neighboring Middle East as a religion that harmoniously united religious and political spheres, did not realize itself in this form in the Horn of Africa. Islam in the East flourished as a victorious ideology of a single state, organized urban culture, a system of worship, education and the rule of law, using the Arabic language and writing. In the Middle East, it has become a “religion and state”, a system of imperial institutions and values. In the Horn of Africa, Ethiopian Christianity took over this function, creating the imperial political system, and Islam spread mainly as an auxiliary tool for preserving, and even for political conservation, such phenomena as tribalism, fragmentation, and ethnolinguistic isolation. In the political sense, the Muslims of the Horn of Africa defined themselves according to the ethnic-lingual criterion - as Somalis, Sidama, Oromo, Afar, etc., that is, in separate groups. Usually, it was only in such small groups — in which, by the way, not all members became Muslims — did Islam help create a local government, dynasty, or princely authority. Muslims among them carried out their religious life, for the most part, in the absence of Arabic-speaking institutions of education that are classical for a Muslim society, as well as a political expression for the concept of the “nation of Islam” (Ummah ), as a structure uniting all "faithful". Islam existed mainly as a spiritual framework of disparate communities, as a form of organizing local groups grouped around mosques and structures of the Islamic court, as the basis of primary education, social institutions, local government and religious hierarchy operating in the languages mentioned. And among the native speakers of the Amharic language and the Tigrinya - as can be seen, quite noticeable quantitatively Muslim communities appeared already in the first century of the existence of Islam. Most of these Muslims were engaged in trade and craft, and this, as it were, filled a niche in the functioning of a Christian society engaged in agriculture and military affairs. If we were to headline this section “Islam in Ethiopia,” we would have to concentrate on the history of a private phenomenon, the history of the Christian state, and Muslims as one of its constituent parts. However, such a picture would be incomplete. The history of Ethiopian Islam did not take place on a distant island, on which two religions have retired (and also, by the way, others). It took place in close proximity to the countries that formed the core of the Islamic world, the Middle East of our days, the region of birth and development for many generations of Islam, as a victorious symbiosis of religion and politics. In order to try to cover the entire complexity of this historical phenomenon, both in its internal relations and its strong orientation to the Islamic world around, and “Islam and Ethiopia," in the period of unprecedented flourishing of Islam, an onslaught that heralds the beginning of revolutionary changes in relations between the two main religions of Ethiopia.

https://www.modernghana.com/news/895800/how-islam-gain-roots-in-ethiopia-the-historical-symbol-of.html

Religion

en

Scientists have long known what causes sickle-cell disease and its devastating effects: a single mutation in one errant gene. But for decades, there has been only modest progress against an inherited condition that mainly afflicts people of African descent. With advances in gene therapy, that is quickly changing — so much so that scientists have begun to talk of a cure. In a half-dozen clinical trials planned or underway, researchers are testing strategies for correcting the problem at the genetic level. Already a handful of the enrolled patients, who have endured an illness that causes excruciating bouts of pain, strokes and early death, no longer show signs of the disease. Among them is Brandon Williams, 21, who lives with his mother in Chicago. Because of his sickle-cell disease, he had suffered four strokes by age 18. The damage makes it hard for him to speak. His older sister died of the disease. Following an experimental gene therapy, his symptoms have vanished. Life has taken a sharp turn for the better: no more transfusions, no more pain, no more fear. “He said, ‘Mom, I think I want to get me a job,’” said his mother, Leuteresa Roberts. It is still early in the course of these experimental treatments, and it is likely to be at least three years before one is approved. Although researchers hope the effects will last, they cannot be certain.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/27/health/sickle-cell-gene-therapy.html?emc=edit_na_20190127&nl=breaking-news&nlid=54795170ing-news&ref=cta

Health

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Don’t fall for the bait and switch Sloppy language leads to sloppy thinking YES and NO We observe variation, mutation and natural selection in living things. Evolutionists call this ‘evolution’, and this is why they claim that evolution is true. We see how the environment affects the survival of these different animals. We even see new species arising as a result of these processes. These phenomena are observed and documented scientifically. Creationists agree with all these observations. In fact, these sorts of changes happen very quickly. Speciation can occur within a few generations.1 But, dogs remain dogs, frogs remain frogs, and horses remain horses. We don’t see fish changing into frogs, or lizards into birds. What we see is consistent with the biblical account of a recent creation. God created different kinds of animals at the beginning. These different kinds were capable of adapting to different environments. Creationists prefer not to call this variation within a kind ‘evolution’ (not even ‘micro-evolution’2). We call these changes ‘adaptation’. It doesn’t really matter what word you use, but it is important to know what you are talking about. Creationists reserve the word evolution for something entirely different from what we see here. We have heard of the idea that single-celled animals changed by mutation and natural selection into reptiles, birds, mammals and people, over millions of years. This is what creationists call evolution and they distinguish it from adaptation. Evolutionists call this evolution too, the same word they use for adaptation. That is why there is so much confusion on this issue. Evolutionists use the same word for two entirely different things (called equivocation), and so you don’t really know what they are talking about. If small random mutations are to produce new genetic information for these amazing changes in animals, then millions of such genetic errors would be needed over millions of generations.3 That is why evolutionists need billions of years for the idea to be plausible. However, these sorts of changes have never been observed. Variation and natural selection do not produce new genetic information; they only rearrange or remove the existing information. Mutations do not generate new genetic information; they destroy some of the existing information. Furthermore, the fossils are not consistent with the idea of evolution; the innumerable transitional forms expected are missing. This molecules-to-man concept of evolution is just a hypothetical philosophy without observational scientific support. This concept of evolution is used to justify the assertion that the living world can be explained without God. It is contrary to the teaching of the biblical account. It looks scientific, but as we have seen it is not. It is a bit of a trick played by using sloppy language. Evolutionists use adaptation, which is observed, to support evolution, which is an entirely different process. It is an example of bait and switch. They get away with it because people do not realize they are using the same word to mean two entirely different things. Next time someone says that evolution is an observed scientific fact make sure you get them to clearly define what they are talking about. They will almost certainly be referring to adaptation but want you to believe they have proved evolution. Don’t be fooled. Sloppy language leads to sloppy thinking. You wouldn’t want to make the wrong decision about the reliability of the Bible, where you came from and why you are here because you fell for the bait and switch trick. References and notes - Catchpoole, D. and Wieland, C., Speedy species surprise, Creation 23(2):13–15, 2001. Return to text. - The term ‘micro-evolution’ is misleading because the changes are in the wrong direction. Return to text. - The size of the change is not the problem, rather the change is going the wrong way; see Wieland, C., The evolution train’s a comin’, Creation 24(2):16–19, 2002. Return to text. Comments are automatically closed 14 days after publication.

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Religion

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A profile on the Black Hebrew Israelite movement: Founder: Various leaders for different sects. There is no primary leader today. First started in the United States before the Civil War. Headquarters: Various major cities across the United States with state chapters. There does not appear to be a central headquarter of leadership for the movement. Membership: Approximately 200,000 among the dozens of offshoot branches. Approximately 50,000 Black Hebrews, while the number who follow some form of Judaism (broadly defined) could be up to 200,000. There is a vast amount of diversity amongst various groups who claim to be descendants of the ancient Israelites. It is difficult to distinguish between all the various offshoots and movements within the broad movement of “Black Jewish Identity.” Therefore, the range of possible adherents could be between 40,000-200,000. Origins: One sect originated before the Civil War. There was another sect founded later in 1896, the Church of God and Saints of Christ, by William Crowdy. In the 1980s other sects began to appear, such as those lead by Yahweh Ben Yahweh (1935 – 2007), or Hulon Mitchell, Jr. There are a number of other sects of this broad Hebrew Israelite movement known as the Commandment Keepers, The Law Keepers, House of Judah, and the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, just to name a few.1 - Some groups stand on the street corners of major cities and condemn people for their allegedly false beliefs while using vulgar language.2 The Hebrew Israelites are very combative and generally do not want to listen when their views are challenged.3 - They frequently use Hebrew words such as Yah [the name of God, Yahweh, shortened as Yah], Yahoshua [Jesus], Shabbat [Sabbath], etc. - They keep the Jewish Sabbath and many other Jewish customs including circumcision, dietary laws, and the observance of certain Jewish holidays and festivals like Yom Kippur and Passover. - They use the Old and New Testament to support their teachings, especially the five books of Moses (Genesis to Deuteronomy). - They do not consider themselves to be Jews in the modern sense of the term as associated with Orthodox, Reformed, Conservative, or Hasidic Judaism. Source of Authority: It is difficult to determine where these Hebrew Israelites get their ultimate source of authority since they do not have any official writings. They apparently view the Bible (both the Old and New Testaments), preferably the King James Version, as an authoritative source, but they just argue that there have been a number of mistranslations. Nevertheless, some hint that the canon of the Bible is not fixed. They apparently use other writings outside of the Bible to support their ideas, such as the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (meaning literally “false writings”). Generally, the Black Hebrew Israelites teach that certain groups of black are the descendants of ancient Israelites and that white people (especially those in Israel today) are not true descendants. Some BHI’s adhere to the Talmud (Jewish collection of teachings, laws, and interpretations based on Genesis through Deuteronomy) while others do not. A very small fraction is racist and considers white people to be evil. Most Black Hebrew Israelites are peaceable and oppose racism. Following are some of the teachings that many Black Hebrew Israelites affirm. However, there is no universal consensus on all of these points, nor is this an exhaustive summary of all their beliefs. Not all divisions within the movement hold to all these teachings since there is a vast diversity in the movement that has no official creed. - The Trinity is a false teaching. - God’s true name is Yah as found in Psalm 68:4. - There is no consensus on who the Messiah is: The true name of the Messiah in the New Testament is Yahshuah Ben Yah (Yahshuah the son of Yah). According to their website, there is no universal agreement regarding who the Messiah is. It is not a central component of what defines them as Hebrew Israelites.4 - Virgin Birth: “Yahshuah the Messiah was an Israelite but He had no earthly father, so what made him an Israelite? He was born through the womb of an Israelite woman.”5 - Salvation is only possible by calling on the true name of Jesus in Hebrew, which is Yahshuah Ben Yah (Yahshuah the son of Yah). “You have to call upon him by his Yah given Hebrew name, as it states in Acts 4:12 no other name can be a substitute, no translation of his name. Only his true name given from Heaven which can be spoken in every language, is your key to salvation.”6 - Also, John 3:18 says that you are condemned if you do not believe in the name of the only begotten Son. - Relationship to Judaism - It is necessary to keep the Sabbath and observe various Jewish laws. - The Talmud is not God’s revelation. - Hell is a metaphor and is not a literal place where people suffer. - There is no heaven and hell. There is no place where people burn. We are in the caucasian heaven now7. - Black People - Black people are the true Israelites from the tribe of Judah. They argue this from various passages in the Old Testament including Deuteronomy 28 (cf. Leviticus 26) which references ships (Deut. 28:68), serving in bondage (Deut. 28:48), mockery (28:37), and being defeated before one’s enemies (28:25). Also, Lamentations 5:10 describes the Israelites who had skin as black as an oven. Therefore, to the Hebrew Israelites, this is conclusive proof that the original Israelites were black. - Hispanics, Native Americans, and Negroes are the real Israelites (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI1Zdt031r8). The Jews are the Negros in America. The Jews are one tribe of people from Judah. The Twelve Tribes of Israel are divided up into various ethnic groups in amongst Hispanics, Native Americans, and Negroes. - Many of the popular people in history were black, including Moses, Pharoah, certain Roman emperors, etc.8 - Jesus was black. - White People - White people are seen as conspirators who attempt to persecute the black people and hide their true identity as Israelites. Many Black Hebrew Israelites see white people as almost subhuman. - People on this earth are in the caucasian heaven right now since white people are dominating this world and subjugating black people. - The Bible - There are other books that belong in the Bible, including the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha (especially the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jasher). - The King James Version is the best translation of the Bible, but there are mistranslations in it including the removal of Yah, etc. When quoting Romans 9:4-5, the author freely substitutes the Hebrew Yah for the Greek Theos: “Romans 9:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of Yah, and the promises; 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Messiah came, who is over all, Yah blessed for ever. Amen.” What gives him the right to substitute Yah in these passages? There is virtually no textual support in all of the thousands of manuscripts of the New Testament for such a reading of Romans 9:4-5. - Eschatology (End Times) - The Hebrew Israelites have some interesting views regarding the end times or eschatology. According to many of them, Luke 21:24 with its reference to the “times of the Gentiles” is actually a reference to the times of the Europeans. When the Messiah returns, all Israel (meaning black people) will be gathered back to the promised land near Israel of today. No Official Canon of Scripture The Black Hebrew Israelites appear to allow for the idea that there are other books that should be in the Canon of Scripture, or are at least as authoritative as the sixty-six books in the Bible. There are other books that belong in the Bible, such as the book of Enoch.9 They base this argument upon the fact that the book of Jude in the New Testament alludes to the book of Enoch. However, there are good reasons to believe that only the sixty-six books of the Bible are authoritative. First, Jesus quoted the entire 24 books of the Hebrew Canon by referring to Abel [the first martyr in Genesis] to Zechariah [the last martyr in Chronicles] (Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:51). These twenty-four books of the Hebrew Bible correspond exactly with the number of books found in standard Protestant Bibles today, which is 39. The Jews just arranged their books differently. Second, there are no references to “thus says the Lord” or “the Scripture says,” etc., by Jesus to any of the non-canonical Old Testament passages. Since Jesus claimed to be divine and supported that claim by rising from the dead, it is reasonable to believe what Jesus taught. Therefore, the book of Enoch and other such works, while they may have some accurate teachings, are not inspired by God. In 21st century American culture, where black people have suffered greatly and continue to endure difficult social and cultural hardships, it is not surprising that many African American men turn to such systems of thought as espoused by the Black Hebrew Israelites. Many African American men are in prison. Many African American’s continue to receive prejudice from white people and those of other races. While the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s has provided liberation for many black people, it has not reduced all social tensions and blatant racism that still prevails in America and internationally. As a result of these many hardships black people face, the ideas espoused by the Hebrew Israelites serve to empower and liberate them from their destitute condition….at least so they think. A Response to Some of the Teachings of the Hebrew Israelites Black Hebrew Israelites, please read this first If you identify yourself as a Hebrew Israelite and you are reading this website, I invite you to please investigate what we are discussing here. We do not hate the precious people who claim to be Black Hebrew Israelites. Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” (John 8:32). He also said, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” (John 14:6). My goal in writing this section is to point you to the truth found in the person of Jesus Christ. He claimed to be the only way to God. If one has a false view of Jesus or minimizes who Jesus claimed to be, this group cannot be following God. These issues are of eternal significance. How we view God will affect how we view everything else in our lives. A false god and a false Jesus will only provide you with a false salvation. Please understand that I am a white man and my heart is to see God’s love and forgiveness provided to all people of every tribe, tongue, and nation. I do not hate black people, nor do I hate any Black Hebrew Israelites. My hope and plea is to accurately represent the teachings of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement and provide polite, loving responses to any of these false teachings. I do not claim to have perfect knowledge of the teachings and ideas of the many people who identify themselves as Black Hebrew Israelites. I have done my best to accurately represent a very diverse group. I take complete responsibility for any mistakes that I may have made in representing the Black Hebrew Israelites. I welcome your questions, thoughts, and concerns. If I have misrepresented the BHI viewpoint, please do not hesitate to contact us with documentation. May God bless you with His Truth! Error #1a: Racism While many Black Hebrew Israelites do not claim to be racists, or to hate someone based on skin color, in practice, these Hebrew Israelites do not act this way. On street corners, they frequently accuse people of other races as being backward, wicked, or even subhuman. All of the Black Hebrew Israelite teachings on white people indicate that they are not valued as highly by God. However, this is not the teaching of the New Testament in which God loves the whole world (John 3:16). While he certainly chose Israel as a nation and called Abraham, God still had a special love and compassion for all the people of the earth. Furthermore, Galatians 3:28 teaches, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” The New Testament is not a special book for a certain race of people, but a book for all people everywhere. Jesus sent the apostles into the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) to make disciples of all nations (Mt. 28:19-20). The book of Revelation describes people of every tribe, tongue, and nation worshiping the Lamb, Jesus Christ. It does not merely describe one people group whether black, white, yellow, or red. “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb,” (Revelation 7:9-10; cf. Revelation 5:9). “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” Error #1b: Minimizing the Person of Jesus The Black Hebrew Israelites, unfortunately, minimize the person of Jesus, and the focus of their religion becomes black identity and cultural revolution. While it is certainly true that black people have been mistreated and taught many false things by mainstream culture, this is not grounds for minimizing the person of Jesus Christ. Who Jesus is should be the central component of any religion that claims to follow the Old and New Testament. Jesus said, “for unless you believe that I am [He], you will die in your sins,” (John 8:24). Jesus is saying that unless you believe that He is the I AM of the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14), you will die in your sins. To reject who Jesus claimed to be is to suffer death in your sins. This is the most critical issue of any religion. The Bible was written to testify of who Jesus is. It is not primarily an identity sourcebook for a particular race of people. Error #2: Denial of the Trinity The Bible emphatically teaches that there is one God in all existence (Isaiah 43:10; 44:6, 8; John 17:3). However, it also teaches that Jesus is God (John 1:1-3; 5:18; 8:24;1 Tim. 3:16). Jesus receives worship (Matthew 2:2, 11), is prayed to (1 Corinthians 1:2; Acts 7:55-59), and is called God (John 20:28; Hebrews 1:6-8). In fact, Old Testament Yahweh passages using the divine name of God are applied to Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus exhibits the unique identity of God. However, the Bible also describes the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5; 2 Cor. 13:14) and having personal attributes (John 14:26). Since there is only one God, not three gods, each of these three persons have to be the one God. This is the Trinity. Error #3: Salvation is only in the Hebrew Name of Jesus The New Testament was written in Greek, while Jesus probably spoke in Aramaic which is a sister language of Hebrew. The New Testament writers originally wrote in Greek. Salvation was by calling upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13; cf. Joel 2:32). Paul, in quoting the Old Testament, uses a Greek translation of the Hebrew text in order to get his salvation point across. The issue is not an exact pronunciation of the Hebrew name, but belief in the Person described in the New Testament. The author states, based on Acts 4:12, that you have to call upon Jesus in Hebrew. However, he fails to note that the passage that he quotes from is in Greek! The original text of Acts 4 was in Greek. Jesus’ name in Greek is Iesous, not Yahoshuu. The Bible teaches that one is saved through believing in his heart (Romans 10:9-10), not through the perfect pronunciation of a Hebrew phrase Yahoshua. Nowhere in the entire New Testament do we see the early apostles teaching that you have to call upon the Hebrew name of Jesus to be saved (Romans 10:13). In fact, many of the early Churches to whom Paul wrote and visited were Greek-speaking peoples who did not know anything about Hebrew. Error #4: We must keep the Law of Moses We are not under the Law of Moses today. Jesus came to fulfill the Law. He did this when he died on the cross and his blood rent the temple veil in two. Jesus is the mediator of a New Covenant (Hebrews 7-9). Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). The Law has been done away with. There certainly are moral teachings in the Law in which we should abide, such as not to murder, commit adultery, steal, etc. These teachings are found in the New Testament (Matthew 19:18). The Law says that we should not lie, steal, covet, or commit adultery. Jesus said that if you look at a woman with lust, you have committed adultery with her already in your heart. Since we cannot keep those Laws, we are guilty before God. The Law was never intended to make us perfect before God. It was to show us our sinfulness and show us our need for Christ (Galatians 3:25; Romans 3:20). The issue is a heart issue. As Jeremiah says, God will write a New Covenant on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Error #5: God’s only true name is Yah Scholars today are not exactly certain what the divine name of God actually is. The original Hebrew text did not have vowel pointings. It was not until around the 7th century that the Hebrew Massoretes began to add vowel pointings to aid pronunciation. While Psalm 68:4 calls God’s name Yah, God is also called by various other names in the Old Testament including Yahweh, Elohim, El, etc. Psalm 68 does not teach that God’s only name is Yah, nor that one has to know this name in order to be saved. If one has to call on God’s name precisely as it is described in Scripture, then one must also call on these other few dozen names of God in precise Hebrew fashion. However, if there are no vowel pointings for this Hebrew name, then how do we even know the exact name of God? Also, many scholars think that the closest representation of the divine name is Yahweh or Yehvah, not just Yah. Should we be in turmoil since we do not know the exact name of God? Finally, many Jews did not pronounce the name of God since they were afraid of breaking the fourth commandment (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5). So as not to take the Lord’s name in vain, these Hebrews would say the name Adonai to substitute for Yahweh. They did not want to disrespect this sacred name. Error #6: Denial of Heaven and Hell The Bible emphatically teaches that there is a heaven and hell. These are not just metaphors but are descriptions of actual places. The Bible speaks of hell as a lake of fire, the second death, eternal separation, etc. Also, heaven is described as bliss, etc. God will restore the earth and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, but there still is a literal place where the righteous will dwell eternally and a literal hell where the wicked will dwell eternally in torment (Mt. 25:41-46). Error #7: Native Americans are descendants of the Israelites DNA evidence suggests that Native Americans are actually descendants from Asiatic peoples in Mongolia, who migrated to the United States via the Bering Land Straight through modern-day Alaska. While there could have been people who came to North America from Africa, the DNA evidence does not suggest that these Native Americans actually have Middle Eastern origins. For the Black Hebrew Israelites to argue that Native Americans in North America are descendants of Israelites, they must provide DNA evidence to support such arguments. As a result, it is quite doubtful that the Black Hebrew Israelites view of the origins of the peoples in North America is accurate. - Black Hebrew Israelites claim they are not hate preachers - A true Israelite is not a hate preacher or racist. That would be going against the words of the Creator. Israel can’t be a hate filled people, our whole duty for being chosen is to take the word of the Most High to all the nations on the earth, so they can get salvation.10 - “…A True Hebrew doesn’t hate men for the sake of hating or because of skin color. Hebrews teach again the doctrinal lies that exist in those religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam). But we don’t hate the people we hate the lies. All Lies come from the mouth of the adversary Satan, he is the father of lies.”11 - The Identity of the Hebrew Israelites - “The Hebrew Israelites are the modern descendants of the ancient Israelites. The Hebrew Israelites have been scattered to the four corners of the earth. They reside in all lands among all people, they are suffering from the curses that are found in the law books of Leviticus chapter 26 and Deuteronomy chapter 28. Today they are known by the bywords and proverbs of “BLACKS, AFRICAN AMERICANS, AFRO AMERICANS, NEGROES, NIGGERS, ETC. The Hebrew Israelites are the true descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are the priest of the Most High.”12 - “…The Most High said the Curses found in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 are the Identifying mark. Whatever people are suffering the curses in their entirety are the true Israelites. This site has proven that the so called black man and woman of the western hemisphere who got to this part of the world as captives in the bottom of slave ships. Fit the full scriptural description of Israel, any other people who are claiming Israelite heritage must fit the full description of Israel in the latter days.” - “Some of Israel do believe in the Messiah and some don’t. Even among the ones who don’t there exist a slight separation of what they believe about the messiah, this can also be found among the ones who do believe. There isn’t one universal belief about the Messiah among Hebrew Israelites. Well not yet.”13 - The Bible - There are mistranslations in the King James Version, but it does contain truth: “Although a few mistranslation exist in the KJV, such as the name Jew, Jesus and Jehovah in my humble opinion this translation is still very useful and still contains THE truth.” - There are other books that belong in the Bible: “These are books that were removed FROM the bible, by so called Roman Catholic authorities. I highly recommend you get these missing books, they are part of scripture, in many cases they fill in the missing blank in some of the 66 “canonized” bible books. For instance In the book of Genesis chapter 6 the sons of Yah are mention who have taken on the daughter of men, this passage is very controversial so many interpetations have been given about Genesis 6. But the book of Enoch says the sons of Yah Were sinful angels who had sex with Human women (the daughters of men). Both the apostles Peter and Jude makes quotes from the book of Enoch, these missing books are just as valid as the 66 books. The book of Jasher is mention twice in the scriptures. The missing books can give you a lot of understanding, I highly advise you find a copy to increase your understanding of Yah’s Word.” 1↑ | blackapologetics.com | 2↑ | I was in New York City near Times Square back in August of 2009 when I first saw the Hebrew Israelites in person. They were the most vulgar, hate-filled, bitter people that I have ever met. They would not listen to people who wanted to dialogue or ask honest questions. I realize that not all Hebrew Israelites act this way. However, that was just my one experience. | 3↑ | For examples of their hatred and intolerance, see the various YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI1Zdt031r8. To the Hebrew Israelites credit, they generally do not advocate violence even though they do use profanity and are very aggressive in their evangelistic methods. | 4↑ | http://www.hebrewisraelites.org/faq.htm, accessed 12-28-11. | 5↑, 10↑, 11↑, 12↑, 13↑ | http://www.hebrewisraelites.org/faq.htm | 6↑ | http://www.hebrewisraelites.org/ | 7↑ | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI1Zdt031r8 | 8↑ | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS7QrJXqI1I | 9↑ | http://www.hebrewisraelites.org/Links.htm |

https://carm.org/black-hebrew-israelites

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Jen has taught Science in accredited schools in North & South America for twenty years and has a degree in Sociology (Epidemiology & Aids Research). Her work in quantitative data has been published in the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America & Cambridge University Press. Quantum physics is tricky, even for the most brilliant of scientists, but you got this. Put on your favorite thinking cap, and here we go! Quantum physics is the study of things that are very, very small. This branch of science investigates the behavior of matter and the activities happening inside of atoms in order to make sense of the smallest things in nature. Before we move any further, let's clarify two key things that quantum scientists are attempting to understand: - Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. In other words, it's the amount of stuff inside of an object. Yep, that pretty much describes everything. That's because everything in the universe is made of matter. - Atoms are the smallest unit of matter. The universe and everything around us is made of atoms. Even our bodies have billions of atoms. One reason quantum physics is so complex and has boggled the brains of scientists for years is that humans have limited experience with these teeny tiny objects in their day-to-day lives. These objects are always around us; however, they cannot be seen without the help of powerful microscopes and other science instruments. The discovery made about waves and particles demonstrates how wonky and complex quantum physics really is! Physicists, the scientists who study quantum physics, discovered that everything in the universe behaves like both a particle and a wave. This concept revealed one of the most powerful ideas in the world of quantum physics. Here's why: - Particles are small pieces of matter. For example, a piece of a rock is a particle. - Water, sound, and light are all made of waves. Ocean waves and rocks don't really seem to have anything in common, and scientists never thought to classify them together until Albert Einstein expanded upon the work of another scientist named Max Planck. During the early 1900s, most people believed light traveled in waves; however, Einstein discovered light is actually a flow of photons. Waves are very different from photons because photons are individual particles that look like little marbles, and waves are long, curvy lines. This big discovery (or, should I say, very small discovery, since we are discussing quantum physics) demonstrated that if particles act as waves, then they do not have an exact position. This idea also makes it difficult to know how fast the particles move. Einstein's findings opened the door for more research and changed the way humans think. Another scientist, an Austrian named Schrödinger, is famous for an experiment he never actually did. Rather, he asked a question: ''What would happen if a cat was placed in a closed box with something that had a fifty percent chance of killing it within an hour?'' Remember, he didn't actually do this experiment. Instead, he wanted to know what state of matter the cat would be in. He concluded: - Just before the box is opened, the cat is in two states: equally alive and dead. - One state of matter is only present when the box is opened. - His experiment claims the experiment is ruined by the observer opening the box. The purpose of his experiment was to prove that large objects should not be thought of in tiny quantum states because you end up with ridiculous results, like a cat that's dead and alive at the same time. In this lesson, we learned everything that takes up space is called matter and the smallest unit of matter is an atom. Quantum physics investigates the behavior of matter and atoms. Two important facts were also discussed: - Schrödinger showed that experiments do not work when combining large objects with quantum objects. - Einstein proved photons travel as both particles and waves. Register to view this lesson Unlock Your Education See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.com Become a Study.com member and start learning now. Become a MemberAlready a member? Log In Resources created by teachers for teachers I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. It’s like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. I feel like it’s a lifeline.

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Religion

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Ask yourself these questions before reading further! You discovered one of your siblings, children, relatives or family member always act feminin. Would you because of that hate the person? hurt the person or kill the person because of feminism? The same way you love them, kindly spread the love to the ones you're not blood realated with and protect them. What Is Feminism Behavior In Male? The behavior you're referring to is often described as gender nonconformity or gender atypical behavior in children, where a male child may exhibit interests, behaviors, or preferences that are typically associated with females. This can include playing with toys stereotypically associated with girls, preferring activities traditionally considered feminine, or expressing a gender identity that differs from their assigned sex at birth. There is ongoing research into the causes of gender nonconformity in children, and it is likely influenced by a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors: There is some evidence to suggest that genetic factors may play a role in gender identity and expression. For instance, studies have shown that certain genetic variations may influence behaviors that are more typically associated with one gender over another. Genetics can influence personality traits such as empathy, aggression, openness to new experiences, and conscientiousness. These traits can affect an individual's susceptibility to feminist ideals: - Empathy and Compassion: Genetic predispositions toward higher empathy and compassion may make male children more receptive to feminist ideas, which often emphasize understanding and supporting others, particularly marginalized groups. - Aggression and Dominance: Lower genetic predisposition to aggression and dominance might correlate with a higher likelihood of embracing egalitarian views, as these traits can be antithetical to feminist principles that advocate for equality and non-violence. Prenatal hormone exposure is thought to have a significant impact on gender identity and behavior. The levels of androgens (male hormones like testosterone) that a fetus is exposed to can affect brain development in ways that influence gender-related behaviors. Conditions like Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH), which involves higher levels of androgens in genetic females, have shown that hormonal exposure can lead to behaviors that are more typically associated with males. Brain Structure and Function Neuroimaging studies have identified differences in brain structures and functions that correlate with gender identity and expression. For example, some research suggests that the brain structures of transgender individuals more closely resemble the brain structures of the gender they identify with rather than their biological sex. Psychological and Social Factors 1. Gender Socialization Children learn gender roles and behaviors from their environment, including parents, peers, and media. If a child is encouraged or permitted to explore behaviors typically associated with the opposite gender, they may adopt these behaviors more readily. Parental attitudes and behaviors play a significant role. Children who grow up in environments where non-traditional gender behaviors are accepted may feel more comfortable expressing these behaviors. 2. Cognitive Development As children grow, they develop their own sense of identity, which includes gender identity. This process involves integrating information from their surroundings and their internal experiences. Some children may explore a wide range of behaviors before settling into a gender identity that feels most authentic to them. 3. Peer Influence Peer groups can significantly impact a child’s behavior. Acceptance or rejection by peers can either reinforce or discourage certain gender-related behaviors. 4. Individual Temperament Children have unique temperaments that influence their preferences and behaviors. Some may naturally gravitate towards activities and behaviors typically associated with the opposite gender due to their individual interests and personality traits. The reasons why some male children might exhibit behaviors more commonly associated with females are multi-faceted, involving genetic, hormonal, neurological, psychological, and social factors. It’s important to recognize that gender expression is diverse and that behaviors typically associated with one gender or another are part of a broad spectrum of normal human behavior. Understanding and supporting children in their exploration of gender can help foster healthy development and self-esteem. Traumatization refers to the process or state of experiencing or being affected by trauma. Trauma can result from events or circumstances that are extremely stressful, frightening, or harmful, and it can have profound and lasting impacts on an individual’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Key aspects of traumatization include: 1. Exposure to Traumatic Events: This can include a wide range of experiences such as physical or sexual abuse, natural disasters, accidents, war, violence, or witnessing a traumatic event. 2. Psychological Impact: Traumatization often leads to psychological symptoms such as anxiety, depression, flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts. It can also result in emotional numbness, detachment, and a persistent sense of fear or helplessness. 3. Physical Responses: Trauma can trigger a range of physical reactions including hyperarousal (heightened state of alertness), changes in sleep patterns, appetite disturbances, and various stress-related physical symptoms like headaches or stomach problems. 4. Behavioral Changes: Individuals who have been traumatized may exhibit changes in behavior, such as increased irritability, aggression, withdrawal from social activities, or engaging in risky behaviors. 5. Impact on Functioning: Traumatization can affect an individual's ability to function in daily life, including their performance at work or school, relationships with others, and overall quality of life. 6. Long-Term Effects: In some cases, traumatization can lead to long-term conditions such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which involves chronic symptoms of re-experiencing the trauma, avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, negative changes in thoughts and mood, and heightened arousal and reactivity. Overall, traumatization is a complex process that affects individuals differently, and its impact can vary widely depending on various factors such as the nature of the traumatic event, the individual's previous experiences, resilience, and available support systems. In Male Feminism; When male children exhibit behaviors traditionally associated with females, they may face various forms of trauma stemming from societal expectations and attitudes toward gender roles. Here’s an overview of the potential sources of trauma, the natural aspects of gender expression, and possible solutions to support these children: Sources of Trauma Social Stigma and Bullying - Rejection by Peers: Children who deviate from traditional gender norms often face bullying, teasing, and exclusion from their peers, leading to feelings of isolation and loneliness. - Discrimination: They may experience discrimination in social settings, such as school, sports teams, and extracurricular activities, where rigid gender roles are enforced. - Lack of Support: Some families may struggle to accept their child's non-conforming gender behavior, leading to negative reactions ranging from subtle disapproval to outright rejection. - Pressure to Conform: Parents or caregivers may pressure the child to conform to traditional gender expectations, causing internal conflict and stress. Internalized Shame and Low Self-Esteem - Internal Conflict: The child may internalize negative messages about their behavior, leading to feelings of shame, guilt, and confusion about their identity. - Mental Health Issues: Prolonged exposure to stigma and rejection can result in anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges. - Rigid School Policies: Schools and other institutions may have policies that do not accommodate gender non-conforming behaviors, leading to further marginalization. - Lack of Representation: Media and cultural representation that adheres strictly to traditional gender roles can make it difficult for children to see themselves positively reflected in society. Natural Aspects of Gender Expression - Diverse Expressions: Gender expression exists on a spectrum, and it is natural for some individuals to exhibit behaviors that are traditionally associated with the opposite gender. - Individual Differences: Just as interests and talents vary among children, so do their preferences for certain types of play, dress, and activities, irrespective of gender. - Normal Exploration: It is normal for children to explore different gender roles as part of their developmental process. This exploration helps them understand their own identities and the world around them. Solutions and Support Strategies Creating Supportive Environments - Parental Support: Parents and caregivers should provide unconditional love and support, affirming the child’s interests and behaviors. Open communication and education about gender diversity can foster a supportive home environment. - Inclusive Education: Schools should implement policies and curricula that promote diversity and inclusion, ensuring that all children feel safe and valued. - Positive Reinforcement: Encourage and celebrate the child’s unique qualities and interests. Help them build confidence in their identity. - Role Models and Representation: Expose children to diverse role models and positive representations of gender diversity in media and literature. Mental Health Support - Therapeutic Support: Access to counselors or therapists who specialize in gender issues can provide a safe space for children to express themselves and address any trauma they may experience. - Peer Support Groups: Connecting with other children who have similar experiences can provide a sense of community and reduce feelings of isolation. Educational Programs for Parents and Educators - Workshops and Training: Programs aimed at educating parents, teachers, and caregivers about gender diversity can promote understanding and reduce prejudice. - Advocacy and Awareness: Advocating for broader societal acceptance and legal protections for gender non-conforming individuals can help create a more inclusive society. Addressing the trauma faced by male children who exhibit traditionally female behaviors involves creating a supportive and understanding environment both at home and in broader society. Recognizing that gender expression is a natural and diverse aspect of human identity is crucial. By providing unconditional support, promoting inclusive policies, and ensuring access to mental health resources, we can help these children thrive and develop a healthy sense of self. Learn to love, motivate and not to oppress the less priviledge!!! About the Creator As a Nigerian author, My pen wields the power to transport readers into vibrant landscapes rich with culture, tradition, and human complexity. With a keen eye for detail and a heart that beats to the rhythm of my homeland Nigeria

https://vocal.media/pride/is-feminism-in-male-natural

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Once upon a time, millions of children all over the world were afflicted by a crippling, incurable and fatal infectious disease known as poliomyelitis (polio). Today, the world is heaving a sigh of relief because polio is on the verge of eradication. While experts note that ending polio will be an historic feat for humanity, and also a huge part of efforts to reach every child with a range of life-saving vaccines, one organization that has relentlessly pursued the dream of global polio eradication is Rotary International. It has a simple strategy – prevent infection by immunizing every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free. According to Dr Tunji Funso, Chairman, Nigeria National PolioPlus, this is a mission possible. Funso, who is also past District Governor, Rotary Nigeria, says with consistent vaccination, the world would soon be free of polio just like it did with small pox. He speaks on Rotary’s polio eradication drive. Excerpts: The polio virus Polio is a highly contagious viral infection that affects the nervous system. Children can be infected with polio when they eat or drink food and water contaminated with the virus or when they come into direct contact with an infected person’s faecal matter. The virus enters the body orally, and travels to the intestines where it multiplies. Eventually, the virus passes into the blood stream and attacks the nervous system – the spinal cord and brain. The virus damages nerve cells and can cause crippling paralysis, sometimes overnight. Generally polio affects children under three, but adults can contract it as well. Rotary International has been at the forefront spearheading concerted global efforts to eradicate polio from the world. With its over 1.2 million-member volunteers’ network base, it collaborates with various governments, partners and agencies to stem the devastating onslaughts of the polio scourge around the world. It was estimated that the deadly virus which attacks children below age five was responsible for about 350,000 deaths globally in 1998 and infects about 1,000 children daily. The most substantial structure and alliance forged in this direction and saddled with the responsibility to coordinate total polio eradication was the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) led by Rotary International, WHO and UNICEF, and launched by the World Health Assembly in 1988 where all governments of the world made commitments to work towards total eradication of polio. The initiative was inspired by Rotary International’s 1985 pledge to raise $120 million toward immunising all of the world’s children against the disease. Rotary set out to raise $120 million but raised $240 million. Essence of eradication The whole world cannot afford to be idle about the polio virus because it has come so far and must strive to win the war completely. We are 99 per cent on our way to eradicating polio but, as every long distance runner knows, it is that last mile that is most difficult and requires bringing out not only physical resources but mental as well. Failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many as 200, 000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world. This is why the World Polio Day is so designated to focus on the polio disease. In previous years, WPV has spread from polio-endemic countries to neighbouring countries and sometimes beyond. 12 previously polio-free countries had WPV circulation in 2011. Of the three polio viruses WPV1, WPV2 and WPV3, only WPV1 still exists. The other two have been eradicated. WPV 3 has ceased to exist anywhere in the world since November 2012. Today, only three countries are polio endemic, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, a significant shift from the 125 endemic countries in 1998, and 223 reported cases in 2012. As at October 2013 just about one case of infection is recorded in two days on the average and more than 100 countries have stopped transmission. The progress made so far was possible due to the relentless efforts of Rotary International in driving the largest public private partnership in history by advocacy using its over 1.2 million-member volunteers around the world. While we advocate, raise funds and actively participate in immunizing children, our partners the governments of the world, WHO, UNICEF, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been providing financial, technical and human resources to get the job done. As of October 4, 2013, there were 49 cases of confirmed Wild Polio Virus in nine states compared to 101 cases in 11 states same period 2012. A total of 122 WPV cases (103 WPV1 and 19 WPV3) were reported in 2012 – a 97 percent increase from 62 cases (47 WPV1 and 15 WPV3) reported in 2011. As at October 4, 2013, Nigeria had only one confirmed circulating vaccine derived poliovirus (cVDPV2) in one state compared to five cases in two states same period in 2012. There has been a remarkable progress. World Polio Day Though the impact of the joint efforts (GPEI) is quite substantial and has been pegged at 99 per cent success rate, children would only be free when polio has been totally eradicated from the world like the small pox. In view of this, October 24, globally earmarked as the World Polio Day continues to serve as a veritable tool in drawing attention to this all important issue across the world and reminding all of the commitments and dire need to rid the world of polio. Rotary is passionate and committed to the annual programme which serves as a good platform to generate interest and increase awareness towards total eradication of polio.. Currently, Nigeria requires one billion doses of the oral polio vaccine annually and NNPC is striving to raise $500million for the total eradication of polio in Nigeria alone. We are working with various partners this year, we are therefore partnering Cycology, a foremost cycling club in Lagos to remind everyone of this important issue and also strive to raise $500million funds to support Rotary’s global efforts in this direction. As part of activities to mark this year’s edition, Rotary, on October 19, organized a charity cycling event tagged Rotary Bike-a-Thon to highlight the strategic importance of raising awareness level, collaboration and embracing the oral vaccinations to aid complete eradication of the virus in Nigeria and globally. It was to remind all and people in the southern part of the country that polio is still with us and we need to get the job of polio eradication done by working to end polio now. The event tagged the “ThisClose campaign” featured registered and well kitted riders including Rotary Club members, Cycology Riding Club members and others in a 5km, 10km and 50km exhibition ride. Star actress Funke Akindele was appointed by Rotary in Nigeria to join other notable global Rotary polio icons, Bill Gates, Desmond Tutu, Isabella Fontana, Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan, Dan Maraya, Sani Dana and many others in creating awareness for polio in a fun and practical way. Akindele would also be spearheading the grassroots enlightenment outreach in the rural areas. It was Rotary international coming from the experience of successful immunization campaigns in the Philippines who in the early 80s proposed to the World Health Organization (WHO) to consider a programme to eradicate polio from the world. Hitherto the strategy was just to protect children from getting polio by giving routine immunization. The end game strategy for polio eradication requires that we continue to keep our eyes on the ball. Tremendous progress has been made in the high risk states in the north but we court disaster if we do not ensure all children in Nigeria are immunized against polio otherwise even most of the southern states that have been polio free for a few years now can see a re-emergence of polio with catastrophic consequences. Everyone needs to join hands with others as polio free areas stand a great risk of infection as long as there are still cases of infection in any other location. The recent outbreaks in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan which have been polio free for some years are quite instructive in this regard. For as long as polio exist anywhere in the world no child is free from polio no matter where they live. End of polio America still continues to immunize its children against polio though it has been polio free for about 40 years. I urge every Nigerian parent and guardian to embrace immunization as it is very safe and necessary to fortify children against polio. Let parents, guardians and care givers continue to take their children for immunization until polio is eradicated from the world. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/subsidy-removal-a-history/COUNTRY

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Seeing Buckingham Palace is a must for anybody visiting London. Whether you're a massive fan of the Royal Family, or you simply want to see one of Britain's biggest historical landmarks, you'll find something to love inside its large, lavish walls. Buckingham Palace is located in Westminster, in the heart of central London, and with St. James's Park and Green Park as its backyards. It serves as the official London residence and administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The palace has a long and colorful history - it wouldn't be British without one. So, without further ado, here are some fascinating facts about Buckingham Palace you may not have known. With The London Pass®, you can explore big-name landmarks, local hotspots and epic tours, all on one pass, all for one price - and enjoy savings of up to 50%, compared to buying individual attraction tickets. ✈️ Buy The London Pass® ✈️ When was Buckingham Palace built? Buckingham Palace was originally known as Buckingham House, and was built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham. King George III then bought it in 1761. Construction of the 775-room palace we see today began in 1825, and it's been the official London residence for all reigning monarchs since Queen Victoria took up residence in 1837. The Palace went way over budget The original Buckingham House was transformed by the esteemed architect John Nash into what it is today. However, he accidentally went over budget and was fired for overspending. Take a look at the gilded detailing and it's no surprise. Nash transformed Buckingham House - as it used to be known - into the grandest possible version of itself, rebuilding the two east wings and adding in the triumphal arch, originally for ceremonial processions into the palace. That arch now lives at Marble Arch - yes, that's the Marble Arch. After Nash, a new architect called Edward Blore completed the work on the palace. Which British Royal was the first to live in Buckingham Palace? Before the palace as we know it was built, the history of the site goes as far back as the Middle Ages, when the site formed part of the Manor of Ebury. (We haven't heard of it either.) It was used for different buildings by different people, including Henry VIII back in the 16th Century. However, once King George IV's planned work was completed, he never even had the chance to call it home. Queen Victoria moved in in 1837, and was the first British Royal to live in Buckingham Palace, followed by the late Queen Elizabeth II. Throughout WW2, the royals refused to leave the palace London was bombed heavily throughout World War Two. And, with Buckingham Palace being the cultural landmark it is, it became a massive target. Despite being advised to leave for their own safety, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth kept calm and carried on, refusing to leave - even though the palace was hit nine times over the course of the war. There are over 700 rooms in the palace Buckingham Palace has hosted thousands of visitors throughout the years. And with a whopping 775 rooms, it's not hard to see how. Among the 775 rooms are 19 grand State Rooms for events, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 78 bathrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, and 92 offices for the King, Royal Family, and staff. Of the State Rooms, the Throne Room is for ceremonial and official events - and the Prince and Princess of Wales took their wedding photos there. Most opulent is the White Room, where the King receives guests. When are the State Rooms open? The State Rooms are only open to the public in the summer. Since Buckingham Palace is very much still a functioning royal residence, throwing its doors open to the public isn't always practical. That's why they only open up during August and September when Queen Elizabeth heads off to Scotland for the summer holidays. Of course, that means you won't catch a glimpse of the Queen at any point of your visit. What kind of art can be found in Buckingham Palace? Buckingham Palace is home to a vast collection of masterworks, including paintings, sculptures, and other beautiful objects. Some of the most widely recognizable pieces include works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Canaletto. The Royal Collection Trust, which manages the art collection, offers tours of the palace where visitors can view many of these masterpieces One of the highlights is the massive painting of Queen Victoria's coronation, which has to be seen to be believed. A massive fan of the royals managed to break in three times As a kid, little Edward Jones was pretty fascinated by the Royal Family. So much so that he managed to sneak into the residence three times. Well, at the very least he was caught three times. He managed to steal Queen Victoria's underwear (!), as well as food from the kitchens. He even boasted to the press that he'd sat on her throne. Without breaking in, it's possible to visit the Throne Room and see the three gilded royal seats for yourself. Does King Charles III live in Buckingham Palace? As head of 'The Firm', King Charles III prefers to be based at Clarence House (also in London), but doesn't live at Buckingham Palace. He does carry out official engagements there, however. Tradition tends to dictate that the monarch lives at Buckingham Palace. Queen Elizabeth II and the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh lived in the private apartments on the north side of the Palace. Other members of the Royal Family have lived in rooms on the upper floors of the north and east sides. Royal Family members, such Princess Anne, and Prince Edward and Sophie Countess of Wessex, hold private apartments at the palace but don't live there full-time. So it's unlikely you'll bump into any of them making a cup of tea in the kitchen while you're visiting! Over 800 people work for the Royal Household, and a lucky few do live in suitably posh apartments (which are said to be lovely, but obviously not as grand as their royal bosses'). There are also staff quarters for a range of household workers, some of whom might live there too. There's a way to tell if the King is there If you're passing by and wonder whether the King is in, well, you're in luck. Want to know what to look out for? It's all to do with a flag. If the Union Flag is flying over the palace, then you're out of luck - he's not there. However, if the Royal Standard flag is flying, then he is in the building, or at least making a visit. Buckingham Palace is like an opulent mini-village Besides the Throne Room and the sprawling grounds, there's a lot going on, inside and outside of the main building. The Royal Mews, built in 1824-1825, are home to luxurious vehicles, and horses that work during special events. The garden alone, filled with beautiful plants and trees, covers 42 acres, making it the largest private garden in London. You'll be able to see some of it, but most of it is closed to the public. There's also a cinema and a swimming pool, a Post Office and police station, a clinic and even an ATM. See London's magnificent palaces and everything it has to offer With The London Pass®, you can enjoy a tour not just of Buckingham Palace, but three other royal residences and the Houses of Parliament with Top Sights Tours. Planning your London trip? With The London Pass®, you can explore big-name landmarks, local hotspots and epic tours, all on one pass, all for one price. Not only that, but you'll enjoy savings of up to 50%, compared to buying individual attraction tickets. ✈️ Buy The London Pass® ✈️

https://buckinghampalace.londonpass.com/tickets.htmlYou

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Astrophysicists from the University of Hawaii have discovered Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on a meteorite found in the Nevada desert in 2010. Researchers who analyzed meteorite fragments in search of micro-bacterial data found the presence of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which is found in a variety of plants, but most famously in the cannabis plant. Astrophysicist (specialized in astrobiology) James Hun, head of the research team said: The discovery of THC on meteorite fragments will have huge impact on the science of astrobiology. If chemical substances, that change brain functions and result in alterations in perception, mood, or consciousness in humans, find their origin in outer space, what role then has cometary impacts played on the human species? Or on life on the planet as whole? This discovery ultimately leaves us with more questions than answers It gives a whole new meaning to the term getting high” he told local reporters, with a pinch of humor. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the primary ingredient in marijuana responsible for the high. It was first discovered in 1964 by a scientist in Israel named Dr. Raphael Mechoulam. Mostly used to get high, THC also has medical benefits like relieve pain, nausea, depression and many other. Currently it is being analyzed if marijuana can cure cancer. While THC is still illegal in most of the U.S. and most countries around the world, synthetic versions of the chemical have been legally prescribed for decades. Tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) were also found in a meteorite fragment in 2009 by a research team from the University of Mexico but the findings were dismissed at the time because of the “controversial nature of the discovery”. Currently scientists and researchers are further analyzing the sample and so they could shed some more light on this latest finding.

http://notallowedto.com/marijuana-in-space-nasa-discovers-thc-on-meteorite-fragment/

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Type 2 diabetes is a chronic medical condition in which the levels of sugar, or glucose, build up in your bloodstream. Typically, the hormone insulin helps move glucose from your blood to your cells, where it’s used for energy. But with type 2 diabetes, your body’s cells aren’t able to respond to insulin as well as they should. In later stages of the condition, your body may also not produce enough insulin. Uncontrolled type 2 diabetes can lead to chronically high blood glucose levels, which can cause several symptoms and potentially lead to serious complications. Symptoms of type 2 diabetes In type 2 diabetes, your body isn’t able to effectively use insulin to bring glucose into your cells. This causes your body to rely on alternative energy sources in your tissues, muscles, and organs. This is a chain reaction that can cause a variety of symptoms. Type 2 diabetes can develop slowly. The symptoms may be mild and easy to dismiss at first. The early symptoms may include: a lack of energy pain, tingling, or numbness in your hands or feet As the disease progresses, the symptoms become more severe and can cause some potentially dangerous complications. Diet for type 2 diabetes Diet is an important tool to help maintain optimal heart health and blood glucose levels that are within a safe range. The diet recommended for people with type 2 diabetes is the same diet just about everyone should follow. It boils down to a few key actions: Choose a variety of foods that are high in nutrients and low in empty calories. Work on being mindful about portion sizes and stopping eating when you’re full. Read food labels closely to understand the amount of sugar or carbs you could be ingesting in a serving size. Foods and beverages to limit If you’ve been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, or even if you’re trying to avoid diabetes and manage your weight, there are certain foods and beverages that you should limit if possible. These include: foods heavy in saturated or trans fats (like red meat and full-fat dairy products) processed meats (like hotdogs and salami) margarine and shortening refined baked goods (like white bread and cake) high-sugar, highly processed snacks (packaged cookies and some cereals) sugary drinks (like regular soda and some fruit juices) While no one food, enjoyed every so often, should knock you off your healthy path, it’s a good idea to talk with your doctor about dietary restrictions based on your blood sugar levels. Some people may need to monitor their glucose more carefully than others after eating these foods. Causes of type 2 diabetes Insulin is a naturally occurring hormone. Your pancreas produces it and releases it when you eat. Insulin helps transport glucose from your bloodstream to cells throughout your body, where it’s used for energy. If you have type 2 diabetes, your body becomes resistant to insulin. Your body is no longer using the hormone efficiently. This forces your pancreas to work harder to make more insulin. Over time, this can damage cells in your pancreas. Eventually, your pancreas may not be able to produce any insulin. If you don’t produce enough insulin or if your body doesn’t use it efficiently, glucose builds up in your bloodstream. This leaves your body’s cells starved for energy. Doctors don’t know exactly what triggers this series of events. It may have to do with cell dysfunction in the pancreas or with cell signaling and regulation. While lifestyle choices are typically what trigger type 2 diabetes, you may be more likely to be diagnosedTrusted Source with it if: there’s a genetic predisposition to developing type 2 diabetes in your family there’s a genetic predisposition to developing obesity in your family, which can increase the risk of insulin resistance and diabetes you are at least 45 years old you are Black, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, or of Alaska Native descent While the definitive trigger of type 2 diabetes is your body’s resistance to insulin, there’s usually a combination of factors that increase your risk of that resistance occurring. Risk factors for type 2 diabetes While there are some risk factors for type 2 diabetes that are out of your control (like your age and heritage, as mentioned above), there are certain lifestyle choices that can also put you at a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Some of these include: Living with excess weight. When you’re living with excess weight, you most likely have more fatty tissue, which can make your cells more resistant to insulin. Living a more sedentary lifestyle. Regular physical activity helps your cells respond better to insulin. Eating a lot of highly processed foods. Highly processed foods can have a lot of hidden sugar and refined carbs. If your life requires a more “grab-and-go” type of eating style, talk with your doctor or a dietician about nutritious swaps. You may also be at increased risk if you’ve had gestational diabetes or prediabetes, two conditions caused by elevated glucose levels. Tips for preventing type 2 diabetes While you can’t always prevent type 2 diabetes, there are a few lifestyle tweaks can help delay, or even prevent, the onset. This is true even if you have increased risk factors like prediabetes. Diet. The best kind of diet to prevent type 2 diabetes is a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, healthy carbs, healthy fats, and very little refined sugar. Exercise. According to the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for AmericansTrusted Source, the optimal amount of exercise a week for adults is 150 minutes, which can translate to 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. The Physical Activity Guidelines also recommend a combination of muscle strengthening and aerobic activity. Weight management. Keeping a moderate weight is a good way to avoid chronic complicationsTrusted Source, including type 2 diabetes. Complications associated with type 2 diabetes For many people, type 2 diabetes can be effectively managed. If not properly managed, it can affect virtually all of your organs and lead to serious complications, including: skin problems, like bacterial or fungal infections nerve damage, or neuropathy, which can cause a loss of sensation or numbness and tingle in your extremities as well as digestive issues, like vomiting, diarrhoea, and constipation poor circulation to the feet, makes it hard for your feet to heal when you have a cut or an infection and can also lead to gangrene and loss of the foot or leg Hearing impairment retinal damage, or retinopathy, and eye damage, which can cause deteriorating vision, glaucoma, and cataracts cardiovascular diseases like high blood pressure, narrowing of the arteries, angina, heart attack, and stroke Women with diabetes are more likely to have a heart attack, at a younger age, than women without diabetes Men with diabetes are 3.5 times as likely trusted Source to develop erectile dysfunction (ED) Hyperglycemia can happen when blood sugar is high. It’s typically characterized by frequent urination and increased thirst. Monitoring your blood glucose carefully, and staying active, can help prevent hyperglycemia. Complications during and after pregnancy If you have diabetes while you’re pregnant, you’ll need to monitor your condition carefully. Diabetes that’s poorly controlled may: complicate pregnancy, labour, and delivery harm your baby’s developing organs cause your baby to gain excess weight It can also increase your baby’s risk of developing diabetes during their lifetime. Managing type 2 diabetes Managing type 2 diabetes requires teamwork. You’ll need to work closely with your doctor, but a lot of the results depend on your choices. Your doctor may want to perform periodic blood tests to determine your blood glucose levels. This will help determine how well you’re managing the condition. If you take medication, these tests will help gauge how well it’s working. Your doctor may also recommend a home monitoring system to test your own blood glucose levels between visits. They’ll explain to you how often you should use it and what your target range should be. Because diabetes can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, your doctor may want to monitor your blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels. If you have symptoms of heart disease, you may need additional tests. These tests may include an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) or a cardiac stress test. It may also be helpful to bring your family into the loop. Educating them about the warning signs of blood glucose levels that are too high or too low will allow them to help in an emergency. Type 2 diabetes in children Type 2 diabetes in children is a growing issue. According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), around 193,000 Americans under age 20 have type 1 or type 2 diabetes. One 2016 study found that the incidence of type 2 diabetes in youth has increased to about 5,000 new cases per year. Another study from 2017 also showed a significant increase, particularly in minority races and ethnic groups. If your child has been diagnosed with diabetes, their doctor will need to determine if it’s type 1 or type 2 before suggesting a specific treatment. In the same way that lifestyle choices can help adults manage or even reverse their type 2 diabetes diagnosis, you can help lower your child’s risk by encouraging them to eat well and to be physically active every day. Type 2 diabetes is a condition that’s created when glucose levels build up in your bloodstream. It’s a common condition that’s often triggered by certain lifestyle choices. But the likelihood of a diagnosis can also be increased by genetics, age, and heritage. Type 2 diabetes can be managed — and even reversed — with certain lifestyle changes. For more severe cases, medication is available. If you’ve been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, talk with your doctor about developing a treatment plan that works for your lifestyle. Because this condition is so common, there’s a plethora of resources and first-person accounts to help you on your journey towards managing — or breaking free from — type 2 diabetes. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/03/understanding-type-2-diabetes-and-how-to-cure-it/

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igmGuru's Cyber Security course online program will help you learn all key Cybersecurity concepts from the scratch. Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting information systems, networks, and devices from digital attacks, unauthorized access, and other security threats. Throughout the Cyber Security Training online, you will grasp necessary concepts such as ethical hacking, cryptography, computer networks & security, application security, idAM (identity & access management), vulnerability analysis, malware threats, sniffing, SQL injection, DoS, session hijacking, and various security practices for businesses, along with hands-on demonstrations. Our training program is also aligned with the Cyber Security Certification exam. Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting information systems, networks, and devices from digital attacks, unauthorized access, and other security threats. Our Cybersecurity course will cover the following topics, among others: 1. Network security and architecture 2. Operating systems and software security 3. Cryptography and encryption 4. Firewalls and intrusion detection systems 5. Vulnerability management and penetration testing 6. Identity and access management 7. Compliance and industry standards 8. Incident response and disaster recovery 9. Cybercrime and cyber law 10. Emerging threats and trends in cybersecurity Cyber security is the combination of various processes, practices, and technologies designed to protect networks, computers, programs, data, and information from attack, damage, or unauthorized access. In this program, you will grasp the aspects of Cyber security from the defensive as well as the offensive side, along with the methodologies that must be practiced to ensure the information security of an organization. igmGuru's course covers concepts such as ethical hacking, cryptography, computer networks and security, application security, idAM (identity & access management), vulnerability analysis, malware threats, sniffing, SQL injection, DoS, session hijacking, and various security practices. These logics will train you for roles such as Network Administrator, System Administrator, Security Analyst, Security Engineer, Pen Tester, and many more. It covers practicals using a wide variety of cyber security tools, which is common for security experts and not just specific to pen testers. As more and more businesses and government organizations embrace digitalization to use and store huge volumes of data, the threat of cyberattack is getting bigger. Companies and governmental organizations across the globe are spending millions of dollars on software and hardware protection systems to secure their precious digital assets. When it comes to safeguarding a company's digital space, hiring experts in cybersecurity is the first line of defense. All cyberwarfare like data breaches and data leaks can be avoided with the right software and equipment. To ensure that you are appropriately equipped to understand and effectively deal with today's cyber issues, we provide you online security classes and cyber security training. We provide variety of cybersecurity classes ranging from introductory to advanced that will help you meet your different cybersecurity needs. What will you learn? This cybersecurity training course online program is crafted to cover a broad range of fundamental topics in the cybersecurity domain, that will help freshers as well as IT professionals with 1 to 2 years of working experience. The online cybersecurity course emphasizes, the ideas of cybersecurity and ethical hacking. Cybersecurity program can teach you the skills you'll need for a career prospect in cyber security, such as encryption and ethical hacking in IT. Cybersecurity is a set of technology, procedures, and practices aimed at preventing attacks, harm, and illegal access to networks, computers, and data. Cybersecurity programs teach individuals how to identify weaknesses, defend against threats, and respond quickly in emergency situations. This program is built to cover a holistic and a wide variety of foundational topics of cybersecurity domain which will be necessary to lead freshers as well as IT professionals having 1 to 2 years of experience, into the next stage of choice such as This Cybersecurity program focuses mainly on the concepts of Cybersecurity and Ethical Hacking. In this training program, we are going to deal with cybersecurity, ethical hacking, cryptography, computer networks & security, application security, idAM (identity & access management), vulnerability analysis, malware threats, sniffing, SQL injection, DoS, session hijacking and various other security best practices for every businesses. Who should Opt? The demand for cybersecurity professionals are increasingly high in IT world. Security has never been more reliant on technology, according to the US National Security Agency. Jobs in cybersecurity pay high salaries and are in high demand in an increasing range of IT fields. Cyber shield is critical not only for the national security but also for corporate companies as almost all organizations are moving their storage to cloud-based solutions. All of these data files and systems later on require security against breaches and leaks. Almost every industry in today's world relies on digital files, emails, and websites, which require a high level of cyber security protection. These increasing malware attacks have pushed the demand for cybersecurity experts along all businesses across the length and breadth of the globe. Cybersecurity abilities are required in various types of software development, not just in cybersecurity positions. Learning cybersecurity can be bit difficult, but it doesn't have to be, particularly if you are interested in technology. Develop an interest in the technologies you work with and you will discover that difficult abilities become easier. A career prospect as a cybersecurity expert professional may be suitable for you if you enjoy programming and problem solving and desire a fast-paced, challenging job. Enroll in an introductory cyber security online course program to learn more about this lucrative and in-demand career. This course includes hands-on projects and cyber labs to give students practical experience in working with security tools and technologies such as Wireshark, Nmap, Metasploit, and more. The principle goal of this course is to prepare professionals for a career in cybersecurity field, such as a cybersecurity analyst, penetration tester, or security engineer. It is important to note that Cybersecurity is a broad and constantly evolving field and that there are many different areas of specialization within it, such as Network Security, Cloud Security, and IoT security. Cybersecurity certifications that are available for cybersecurity professionals include There are many different certifications available for cybersecurity professionals, each with its own specific focus and requirements. Some of the most popular and widely recognized cybersecurity certifications include: Each of these cyber security certifications have different prerequisites and requirements. Some cyber exams require a certain time of professional working experience, or any other certifications before taking the exam, while others have specific educational requirements or even higher education requirements. It's important to note that certifications can be a skilled addition to a cybersecurity professional's journey in 2024. Real-time working experience, continuing learning, and participation in the cybersecurity communities play important roles for cybersecurity professionals. Steps to becoming a cybersecurity skilled employee The demand for cybersecurity specialists has increased as we keep more of our data on clouds and servers throughout the world. Cybersecurity experts design the frameworks that keep hackers out and protect our machines from malware like viruses and Trojan horses. If you are interested in Cybersecurity jobs then here is a complete pathway to becoming a specialist.The following career path is recommended by us for cybersecurity aspirants: You can become an excellent cybersecurity specialist if you've completed these steps. The best course for cyber security is by igmGuru. Here, you have the chance to learn from industry experts with more than a decade of hands-on working experience. Gaining prowess in cyber security can be a challenging task but it does not mean that it has to be outright difficult. Enrolling in igmGuru’s online cybersecurity training is all you need to become proficient in this field. Make it an easy process with our experts! Most job roles related to cyber security do not need coding. However, coding is still considered to be a key skill in this field. If you become an IT security professional who has good coding skills, you will be able to implement, maintain, and design security systems for any organization’s networks.

https://www.igmguru.com/cyber-security/cyber-security-course/

Programming

en

Nearly 70 drugs and experimental compounds may be effective in treating the coronavirus, a team of researchers reported on Sunday night. Some of the medications are already used to treat other diseases, and repurposing them to treat Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, may be faster than trying to invent a new antiviral from scratch, the scientists said. The list of drug candidates appeared in a study published on the web site bioRxiv. The researchers have submitted the paper to a journal for publication. To come up with the list, hundreds of researchers embarked on an unusual study of the genes of the coronavirus, also called SARS-CoV-2. To infect a lung cell, the coronavirus must insert its genes, co-opting the cell’s own genetic machinery. The cell begins to produce viral proteins, which are used to produce millions of new viruses. Each of those viral proteins must be able to latch onto the necessary human proteins for the process to work.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/science/coronavirus-drugs-chloroquine.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-nytimes&fbclid=IwAR3i0MHZWE73E-zwoJkdX2S0pDIK9TDWorVOeTIveq1vKwQUi5BvbUYnlYQ

Health

en

After examining climate data extending back nearly 100 years, a team of Government scientists has concluded that there has been no significant change in average temperatures or rainfall in the United States over that entire period. While the nation's weather in individual years or even for periods of years has been hotter or cooler and drier or wetter than in other periods, the new study shows that over the last century there has been no trend in one direction or another. The study, made by scientists for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was published in the current issue of Geophysical Research Letters. It is based on temperature and precipitation readings taken at weather stations around the country from 1895 to 1987. Dr. Kirby Hanson, the meteorologist who led the study, said in a telephone interview that the findings concerning the United States do not necessarily ''cast doubt'' on previous findings of a worldwide trend toward warmer temperatures, nor do they have a bearing one way or another on the theory that a buildup of pollutants is acting like a greenhouse and causing global warming. He said that the United States occupies only a small percentage of Earth's surface and that the new findings may be the result of regional variations. Readings taken by other scientists have suggested a significant warming worldwide over the last 100 years. Dr. James E. Hansen, director of National Aeronautic and Space Administration's Institute for Space Studies in Manhattan, has reported that average global temperatures have risen by nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit in this century and that the average temperatures in the 1980's are the highest on record. Dr. Hansen and other scientists have said that that there is a high degree of probability that this warming trend is associated with the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide and other industrial gases that absorb and retain radiation.

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/26/us/us-data-since-1895-fail-to-show-warming-trend.html?pagewanted=1

Politics

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Female genital mutilation is another barbaric cultural practice of so many African communities which was mostly practiced in the olden days but is still being carried on today. Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting is a procedure that involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons, which leads several health conditions such as infertility, infections and even death. This harmful tradition was often considered an essential part of raising a girl properly, a requirement for marriage and necessary to control women’s sexuality in Africa. It has been recognized by the international community as a violation of the human rights of girls and women but is still known to be carried out on newborn female children in many African homes. Today, the national prevalence rate of FGM is 41% among adult women with evidence showing that the prevalence of FGM is declining. However, the continuing strong prevalence of FGM in Africa is a major cause of concern which shows that it is not declining enough within the continent, with its prevalence ranging from 91% in Egypt to 74% in Ethiopia, 89% of women in Mali and 76% in Burkina Faso and Kenya at 27%, which are just part of the many other African countries with communities who practice the act. The ongoing mission to eradicate FGM is driven by the World Health Organization, United Nations International Children Emergency Fund, Federation of International Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO), African Union, The economic commission for Africa, and many women organizations. Twenty-five African countries have legistlations/decrees against FGM, namely; Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan (some states), Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, and Gambia. However, its complete eradication can not successfully occur without the total prohibition of the practice all around African countries both from religions and traditions. The Federal and State governments in African countries need to not just enact the laws and sanctions against the practice of FGM but to device effectice measures to implement these laws and sanctions to put a stop to this evil practice. Below are 3 African communities who are still known to practice FGM stemmed from culture, tradition or religion, despite being banned in their countries: - The south-western communities in Osun and Oyo states are known to have the highest prevalence of FGM, Ekiti state, and the eastern communities within Ebonyi and Imo state. - The Somalian, Hadiya, and Afar communities in Ethiopia are known to still have the highest prevalence of FGM within the country. - Communities in Gambia such as Sarahule known to have the highest prevalence, following Mandinka, Djola, Serer, and Wolof.

https://olatorera.com/3-communities-in-africa-that-still-conduct-the-dehumanizing-practice-of-female-genital-mutilation/

Culture

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We tend to associate natural with good. A natural lifestyle, eating natural food, and natural remedies are all presented as superior to anything processed and artificial. After all, the word natural comes from nature, and nature is good, isn’t it? “Natural” and “Transmutation of Species” There is a term, widely used in biology, that also contains the adjective natural and that for many people is also a good thing. It is natural selection. Natural selection relates to the “struggle for existence” coming from observed differences in survival and reproduction, with organisms best adapted to their environment producing more descendants. Life is seen as a constant competition in which natural selection ensures that only the “fittest” win, while the weak and the clumsy fall by the wayside. If the qualities responsible for the survival or demise of certain individuals come from the genes they possess, natural selection results in the best genes remaining in the population while the deficient genes are eliminated. Thus, some would say, even if the means are a bit harsh, the end is the improvement of the species, and therefore the unflinching, unfeeling elimination of unfit organisms by natural selection is justified, a kind of natural good. We find many evidences of how the creation was and how it should be. This was the view of Charles Darwin, the scientist most associated with the concept of natural selection. Although he was neither the first nor the only one to propose the idea, Darwin spread it throughout the academic community of the nineteenth century via his famous 1859 book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. One of the main tenets of this book was to establish natural selection as the agent responsible of the “transmutation of species,” the slow and progressive change that turned one species into a different one by accumulation of adaptive variations over time. Although not mentioned in the title, Darwin’s second goal was to argue in favor of common ancestry for all organisms. He connected common ancestry and natural selection together by assuming that natural selection could accumulate small beneficial changes over millions of years into large evolutionary changes. His concluding paragraph clearly shows Darwin’s conviction that natural selection and its effects on earth were something absolutely good: “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.”1 In the second edition of The Origin, published in 1860 only a few months after the original, Darwin added a short phrase to the paragraph, which then read: “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one . . .”2 Natural Selection and “by the Creator” According to historians and the testimony of Darwin himself,3 this addition does not reflect Darwin’s regret at presenting a purely materialistic theory that left out the Creator, but was rather an attempt to placate the enormous criticisms that the first edition had received from different religious sectors. That was not unexpected. Long before publishing his book, Darwin was fully convinced that the diverse forms of life were not God’s designed creation but the product of a blind, undirected natural process. His core ideas were already formulated in the notebooks he wrote in the 1830s based on his observations during the voyage of the Beagle. However, when he shared his ideas with his deeply religious wife, Emma, along with some of his scientific colleagues, Darwin soon realized how difficult the acceptance of his theory would be in a Christian society. That is one reason On the Origin of Species took a long time to write and ended up as a thick and ponderous book: Darwin spent more than two decades compiling supporting evidence and forging alliances with respected scientists of his time. The book launch went more or less as expected. All copies were sold in a single day and generated a great deal of controversy. Along with scientific critiques, his religious materialism drew serious criticism. Darwin decided to make some rhetorical concessions for the second edition, but the materialistic essence remained unchanged. Natural selection was the mechanism responsible for accumulating changes; it endured as the true creator making endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful, while God was relegated to a secondary role, if any. Darwin defined himself as an agnostic,4 explicitly rejecting the Bible’s divine inspiration, so his ideas were consistent with his stance toward religion. Today, however, there are Christians who claim to be Bible believers and state that Darwin’s materialistic theory is completely compatible with biblical teachings. According to them, God used natural selection to create and thus, because natural selection was God’s means of creation, it is both natural and good. But this is not what is written in the Bible. It is true that the Bible describes nature as good. In Genesis 1 God Himself evaluates different components of His creation and certifies six times that they are good. Then in verse 31, when His work is complete, He reaffirms his verdict by assessing the creation as very good. So, yes, nature was good . . . before Genesis 3. After that, not so much. At the very moment of the Fall, when Adam and Eve decided to disobey God, they condemned the rest of creation to suffer the curse along with humanity; nature’s goodness was tarnished by the consequences of sin. One of the first consequences, readily apparent when reading the text, is a shift in priorities within the human mind. In Patriarchs and Prophets Ellen White states that Adam ate the forbidden fruit out of love for Eve, but a short time after the bite, he was blaming her, and God Himself, for the transgression.5 This same transformation from selflessness to selfishness soon spread to the rest of nature, and that was the very moment natural selection entered the world. Obviously the Bible does not specifically mention the term, but the description of subsequent events perfectly fits our current understanding of the process. Natural selection has to do with resource shortages, a fight for survival, and with death. That is the norm in nature today, but it was not the case before Genesis 3. Food was plentiful (Gen. 1:29, 30), and nothing in the text suggests any struggle, violence, or fear in the original plan. All of that came later, for it was only after sin that the earth had to be forced to bear its crops (Gen. 3:17), plants developed defenses to avoid overgrazing (verse 18), and enmity arose between humans and animals (verse 15). Natural Selection: A Christian’s View What then should a Christian’s view of natural selection be? Is it an invention? Is it nature’s great creative force? Is it good? Is it natural? There is no doubt that natural selection exists and acts in nature. Charles Darwin devoted a large part of his book to revealing it, and we can easily see it in action in any nature documentary on the African savannah, or just looking around in a forest. Animals fight; some die. Some of them survive to reproduce. Sometimes it is because of features that help camouflage them, or help them run faster, or be more attractive. Survivors end up parenting the next generation, and their features increase in the population. Darwin got that part right. As an expert himself in pigeon breeding, Darwin compared the changes made by artificial selection in some animals with those observed in nature between similar species. He used his observations of the Galapagos mockingbirds and other groups of similar species to propose that geographical isolation could cause a species to adapt differently in different environments, resulting in variations of the same organism. He proposed that natural selection may cause a species to split into two or more similar species. And he was right. That idea may have surprised some people in Darwin’s time who believed in the Platonic fixity of species. But today change driven by natural selection is widely accepted by scientists, evolutionists, and creationists alike. We call it speciation, and there is nothing in the Bible against it. Indeed, the very changes that Genesis 3 announces as consequences of sin could well be considered as a biblical reference to this process. But that’s all natural selection can do. It works only on available variations among organisms within the groups God created. It can turn one population of finches into two populations of finches with slightly different characteristics, such as beak size or feather color, but it can’t turn a finch into an eagle, because finches lack characteristics of eagles for natural selection to select. How much more impossible to turn a bacterium into a human being! Darwin extrapolated the role of natural selection to advocate for a godless nature. But it makes no sense for a Bible believer to embrace materialistic arguments that do not hold up either scientifically or theologically. According to our current understanding in biology,6 the changes necessary to turn one kind of organism into a different one—a bacterium into a giraffe or seaweed into oak trees—cannot happen by natural selection or by any other unguided process. In addition, those who claim that God used natural selection to make them directly contradict both the biblical record of Genesis 1 and the central message of the entire Bible. The very concept of natural selection goes against everything the Bible tells us about God. It implies competition, struggle, selfishness, destruction of the weak, and death—all things that go against God’s loving character and His selflessness. In summary, natural selection exists and acts in nature. It can cause changes in the frequency of already-existing traits within populations and even the formation of new species within the same kind of organisms—such as wolves, dingoes, and domestic dogs, all of which are different species, yet happily interbreed. However, as a process that involves predation, suffering, and death, it should not be considered essentially good, or God’s method of creation. What the Bible calls good, an environment of abundance and peaceful relationships, is exactly the opposite of a world ruled by natural selection. Natural selection was not present in the two first chapters of Genesis, and thus it was not part of God’s original plan for our planet: God is love (1 John 4:16). There is only one question left: Is natural selection natural? The obvious answer would be yes, because it is found in nature. Natural selection entered the world with sin and is now part of nature, but fortunately it is only a small part of it. If we contemplate the natural world carefully, we find many evidences of how the creation was and how it should be. Ecosystems function because many different organisms collaborate with each other, plants and animals help each other, and animals living in social groups show empathic and even altruistic behaviors. God created the world out of love and with love, and that is something that not even several thousand years of sin and natural selection can erase. - Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species: A Variorum Peckham (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1959). - E. Janet Browne, The Power of Place, vol. 2 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2003), p. 200. - http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/what-did-darwin-believe-article, accessed April 2021. - Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1890, 1908), p. 57. - Ariel A. Roth, “Chance or Design? The Long Search for an Evolutionary Mechanism,” Dialogue 12, no. 1 (2000): 9-12, 29, available at https://dialogue.adventist.org/645/chance-or-design-the-long-search-for-an-evolutionary-mechanism; Leonard Brand and Arthur Chadwick, Faith, Reason, and Earth History, 3rd ed. (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Andrews University Press, 2016); Michael J. Behe, Darwin Devolves (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2019). Research scientist Noemí Durán directs the Inter-European Division branch office of the Geoscience Research Institute, Sagunto, Spain.

https://adventistreview.org/magazine-article/2105-28/

Religion

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It’s one of the most famous chapters in evolution, so familiar that it regularly inspires New Yorker cartoons: Some 375 million years ago, our ancestors emerged from the sea, evolving from swimming fish to vertebrates that walked on land. Scientists still puzzle over exactly how the transition from sea to land took place. For the most part, they’ve had to rely on information gleaned from fossils of some of the intermediate species. But now a team of researchers has found a remarkable parallel to one of evolution’s signature events. In a cave in Thailand, they’ve discovered that a blind fish walks the way land vertebrates do. The waterfall-climbing cave fish, Cryptotora thamicola, has even evolved many of the skeletal features that our ancestors did for walking, including a full-blown pelvis. “It’s really weird,” said John R. Hutchinson, a biologist at the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London who was not involved in the new study. “It’s a good example of how much fish diversity there’s left to be discovered.” Drop an ordinary fish on the ground, and it will flop around helplessly: Its fins are adapted for pushing against water, not fighting gravity.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/science/researchers-find-fish-that-walks-the-way-land-vertebrates-do.html

Religion

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Paris - Fifty years ago, the Igbo people of southeast Nigeria seceded, declaring an independent Republic of Biafra and sparking a brutal civil war that left about one million people dead. On May 30, 1967, the military head of Nigeria's eastern region, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, declares "the independent Republic of Biafra". His move comes two days after the head of Nigeria's military government, General Yakubu Gowon, divided the federation into 12 states, including three in the east. Biafra, accounting for less than 10% of Nigerian territory, at the time had a population of 14 million out of 55 million nationwide. Its mainly Christian population was two-thirds Igbo. Since independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria had managed to stay a single entity despite historic enmity between the mainly Muslim north and the largely Christian south. But the Igbos felt discriminated against by the two other main ethnic groupings, the northern Hausa-Fulani and the Yoruba in the southwest. In January 1966, Nigeria suffered its first military coup, led by the Igbo General Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi. A counter-coup launched in the north in July kills Ironsi and many of his senior Igbo officers. Thousands of Igbo civilians are killed in reprisals, especially in the north, and millions of survivors flee back to the southeast. The government rejects the secession of the southeast, which is rich in agricultural and mineral resources, especially oil. Gowon announces a general mobilisation and denounces the independence declaration as "an act of rebellion", saying it will be "crushed". The military imposes a blockade on eastern Nigeria. On July 6 the army unleashes a general offensive with its first air bombardments. In October federal troops take Biafra's capital, Enugu, then the port of Calabar. Onitsha and Port Harcourt are recaptured in the first months of 1968. Britain, the Soviet Union and the Organisation of African Unity (the forerunner to the African Union) side with the federal government. Only a few African countries and France back Biafra. On July 3, 1968 the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says that eight to 12 million people are affected by the conflict and that 200 people a day are dying of starvation in Biafra. "One would think we were seeing ghosts marching past, thin and silent, wrapped in grey rags," an AFP special correspondent reports in August. "Nearly all are women of all ages and old people... there are no longer many children in Biafra. "The refugees travel, their stomachs empty, fleeing the noise of federal cannon. The noose is tightening." In late August he writes of a million new refugees in 15 days as the army advances. "One person dies every 15 minutes... refugees are dying from starvation and exhaustion," he reports. The Biafra famine caused by the blockade makes headlines around the world, with heartrending photographs of children, stomachs bloated by malnutrition, their legs bent with rickets. A handful of French doctors working for the ICRC, including the future French government minister Bernard Kouchner, brush aside convention and political borders to launch an aid effort. In 1971, they go on to found Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). From August to September 1968 the army retakes several towns after a major offensive. In March-April 1969, the new Biafran capital, Umuahia, falls. After raids by secessionists on oil wells, Nigerian troops reinforce their blockade, and in June start preventing international Red Cross aid flights. Only Christian churches and the French Red Cross continue their aid flights in ever more dangerous conditions. In early January 1970 the army begins its final assault, and on January 15, Biafra ceases to exist. Ojukwu flees on January 11 to Ivory Coast, leaving his deputy, Philip Effiong, to officially surrender to Gowon in Lagos, the federal government's capital at the time. The east resumes its place in a united Nigeria. Gowon vows "No victor, no vanquished", and pledges to work for national reconciliation. But resentment lingers and deepens over the decades, as the Igbo complain of a lack of investment in the southeast, which many view as a punishment for Biafra. The war invests considerable power in the army, with military coups becoming a feature of Nigerian political life for decades.

http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/biafra-a-painful-chapter-in-nigerias-history-20170528

Politics

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ONE week from today, the United Nations estimates, the world’s population will reach seven billion. Because censuses are infrequent and incomplete, no one knows the precise date — the Census Bureau puts it somewhere next March — but there can be no doubt that humanity is approaching a milestone. The first billion people accumulated over a leisurely interval, from the origins of humans hundreds of thousands of years ago to the early 1800s. Adding the second took another 120 or so years. Then, in the last 50 years, humanity more than doubled, surging from three billion in 1959 to four billion in 1974, five billion in 1987 and six billion in 1998. This rate of population increase has no historical precedent. Can the earth support seven billion now, and the three billion people who are expected to be added by the end of this century? Are the enormous increases in households, cities, material consumption and waste compatible with dignity, health, environmental quality and freedom from poverty? For some in the West, the greatest challenge — because it is the least visible — is to shake off, at last, the view that large and growing numbers of people represent power and prosperity. This view was fostered over millenniums, by the pronatalism of the Hebrew Bible, the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church and Arab thinkers like Ibn Khaldun. Mercantilists of the 16th through the 18th centuries saw a growing population as increasing national wealth: more workers, more consumers, more soldiers. Enlarging the workforce depressed wages, increasing the economic surplus available to the king. “The number of the people makes the wealth of states,” said Frederick the Great. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pronatalism acquired a specious scientific aura from social Darwinism and eugenics. Even today, some economists argue, incorrectly, that population growth is required for economic growth and that Africa is underpopulated. This view made some sense for societies subject to catastrophic mortality from famines, plagues and wars. But it has outlived its usefulness now that human consumption, and pollution, loom large across the earth. Today, while many people reject the equation of human numbers with power, it remains unpalatable, if not suicidal, for political leaders to admit that the United States and Europe do not need growing populations to prosper and be influential and that rich countries should reduce their rates of unintended pregnancy and help poor countries do likewise. With the globalization of work, the incentive for owners of capital today to ignore or not address rapid growth in the numbers of poor people remains as it was for the kings of yore: lower wages for workers at any level of skill offer a bigger economic surplus to be captured. But just as pronatalism is unjustified, so are the dire — and discredited — prophecies of Thomas Malthus and his followers, who believed that soaring populations must lead to mass starvation. In fact, the world is physically capable of feeding, sheltering and enriching many more people in the short term. Between 1820, at the dawn of the industrial age, and 2008, when the world economy entered recession, economic output per person increased elevenfold. Life expectancy tripled in the last few thousand years, to a global average of nearly 70 years. The average number of children per woman fell worldwide to about 2.5 now from 5 in 1950. The world’s population is growing at 1.1 percent per year, half the peak rate in the 1960s. The slowing growth rate enables families and societies to focus on the well-being of their children rather than the quantity. Nearly two-thirds of women under 50 who are married or in a union use some form of contraception, which saves the lives of mothers who would otherwise die in childbirth and avoids millions of abortions each year — an achievement that people who oppose and people who support the availability of legal abortions can both celebrate. But there is plenty of bad news, too. Nearly half the world lives on $2 a day, or less. In China, the figure is 36 percent; in India, 76 percent. More than 800 million people live in slums. A similar number, mostly women, are illiterate. Some 850 million to 925 million people experience food insecurity or chronic undernourishment. In much of Africa and South Asia, more than half the children are stunted (of low height for their age) as a result of chronic hunger. While the world produced 2.3 billion metric tons of cereal grains in 2009-10 — enough calories to sustain 9 to 11 billion people — only 46 percent of the grain went into human mouths. Domestic animals got 34 percent of the crop, and 19 percent went to industrial uses like biofuels, starches and plastics. Of the 208 million pregnancies in 2008, about 86 million were unintended, and they resulted in 33 million unplanned births. And unintended births are not the whole problem. Contraceptives have been free since 2002 in Niger, where the total fertility rate — more than seven children per woman in mid-2010 — was the world’s highest. Women in Niger marry at a median age of 15.5, and married women and men reported in 2006 that they wanted an average of 8.8 and 12.6 children, respectively. Human demands on the earth have grown enormously, though the atmosphere, the oceans and the continents are no bigger now than they were when humans evolved. Already, more than a billion people live without an adequate, renewable supply of fresh water. About two-thirds of fresh water is used for agriculture. Over the coming half century, as incomes rise, people will try to buy agricultural products that require more water. Cities and industries will demand more than three times as much water in developing countries. Watershed managers will increasingly want to limit water diversion from rivers to maintain flood plains, permit fish to migrate, recycle organic matter and maintain water quality. Water shortages are projected to be significant in northern Africa, India, China, parts of Europe, eastern Australia, the western United States and elsewhere. Climate changes will increase the water available for agriculture in North America and Asia but decrease it in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Similar stories could be told about land, overfishing and carbon and nitrogen emissions to the atmosphere. Where is this taking us? The coming half century will see huge shifts in the geopolitical balance of numbers, further declines in the number of children per woman, smaller but more numerous households, an increasingly elderly population, and growing and more numerous cities. The United Nations Population Division anticipates 8 billion people by 2025, 9 billion by 2043 and 10 billion by 2083. India will have more people than China shortly after 2020, and sub-Saharan Africa will have more people than India before 2040. In 1950, there were nearly three times as many Europeans as sub-Saharan Africans. By 2010, there were 16 percent more sub-Saharan Africans than Europeans. By 2100, according to the Population Division, there will be nearly five sub-Saharan Africans for every European. In some ways, the growth in the numbers of people matters less than the growth in the numbers of households. If each household has its own refrigerator, air-conditioner, TV and car, the average energy demand for a given number of people goes up as the average number of people in a household goes down. The urban population of developing countries is expected to grow by a million people every five days through at least 2030, while the rural population falls. Many cities will eat into prime agricultural land unless they grow in density, not extent. And nearly half of urban population growth by 2015 will occur in cities of fewer than half a million people. The coming revolution in aging is well under way in the more developed countries. It will go global in the next half century. In 1950, for each person 65 and older, there were more than six children under 15. By 2070, elderly people will outnumber children under 15, and there will be only three people of working age (15 to 64) for every two people under 15 or 65 and older. Pressures to extend the “working age” beyond 65 will grow more intense. Is economic development the best contraception? Or is voluntary contraception the best form of development? Does the world need a bigger pie (more productive technologies) or fewer forks (slower population growth through voluntary contraception) or better manners (fewer inequities, less violence and corruption, freer trade and mobility, more rule of law, less material-intensive consumption)? Or is education of better quality and greater availability a key ingredient of all other strategies? All these approaches have value. However much we would like one, there is no panacea, though some priorities are clear: voluntary contraception and support services, universal primary and secondary education, and food for pregnant and lactating mothers and children under 5. These priorities are mutually reinforcing, and they are affordable. Providing modern family planning methods to all people with unmet needs would cost about $6.7 billion a year, slightly less than the $6.9 billion Americans are expected to spend for Halloween this year. By one estimate, achieving universal primary and secondary education by 2015 would cost anywhere from $35 billion to $70 billion in additional spending per year. IF we spend our wealth — our material, environmental, human and financial capital — faster than we increase it by savings and investment, we will shift the costs of the prosperity that some enjoy today onto future generations. The mismatch between the short-term incentives that guide our political and economic institutions and even our families, on one hand, and our long-term aspirations, on the other, is severe. We must increase the probability that every child born will be wanted and well cared for and have decent prospects for a good life. We must conserve more, and more wisely use, the energy, water, land, materials and biological diversity with which we are blessed. Henceforth we need to measure our growth in prosperity: not by the sheer number of people who inhabit the earth, and not by flawed measurements like G.D.P., but by how well we satisfy basic human needs; by how well we foster dignity, creativity, community and cooperation; by how well we care for our biological and physical environment, our only home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/opinion/seven-billion.html

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Brittany is a licensed attorney who specializes in criminal law, legal writing, and appellate practice and procedure. Did you know that the state and federal government can take your stuff without charging you with a crime? Through a legal process called civil forfeiture, the government can seize your personal property if they suspect that the property has been involved in a crime or if the private property represents proceeds of a crime. This means that police officers or law enforcement agents from other government agencies (like the FBI or the DEA) can take your money, your personal possessions, and even your house without ever charging you with a crime. Proponents of the practice of civil forfeiture argue that taking the 'tools of the trade' out of the criminals' hands enhances public safety by disrupting dangerous criminal operations, like drug trafficking rings. For example, the police suspect that Tony Trafficker uses his speedboat in a drug trafficking operation. They also know that Tony keeps a large amount of cash on hand so that he can pay his suppliers. The police know that if they simply arrest Tony, Tony's confederates will continue to operate the drug trafficking business without him. Thanks to civil forfeiture laws, the officers can seize Tony's speedboat and cash with the hopes that the drug ring can no longer operate without those key assets. The practice is very controversial, and the laws tend to work against the property owner. Let's discuss the history of civil forfeiture laws and how the practice works today. The practice of civil forfeiture actually started a very long time ago. In the mid-1600s, a set of laws known as the British Navigation Acts permitted the seizure of any ship that refused to sail under the British flag. Later, during the colonial period, Congress based certain laws on the Navigation Acts to help in tax collection. While these early colonial practices helped the government generate revenue, they also angered the colonists. Civil forfeiture laws were used in the 1920s during the Prohibition era when alcohol sales and production were illegal in the United States. Anyone found buying or selling alcohol would be subject to the seizure of the product and their cash. The practice of civil forfeiture made a booming comeback in the 1980s. It was during this decade that the illegal drug trade become a big problem for law enforcement agencies, and lawmakers were eager to find a solution. The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 overhauled the federal criminal code, allowing federal and state agencies to share the proceeds of seized assets. This means that when the local police department seizes Tony's speedboat, the federal government assumes ownership of the boat and, in turn, shares the value of it with the local police. This process is administered through the Department of Justice's Equitable Sharing Program. The legal procedure behind civil forfeiture is different from the typical criminal case. Criminal cases are prosecuted in personam, which means 'against a person' in Latin. That's why criminal cases are styled: 'The People v. Tony Trafficker' or 'The United States v. Tony Trafficker.' On the other hand, civil forfeiture requires what is called an in rem action. In rem means 'against property,' so a civil forfeiture action will look like this: 'The United States v. Speedboat.' So, how can Tony Trafficker get his beloved speedboat back? In a criminal action, the burden of proof-- that is, the responsibility to prove guilt-- lies with the government. If property is seized through civil forfeiture, it is the owner's responsibility to prove that the property was not involved in any criminal activity. Therefore, if Tony wants his speedboat back, he has to prove that it wasn't used to traffic drugs. In most states, the owner has to make his or her case by a preponderance of the evidence, which generally means 'more likely than not.' Civil forfeiture in the modern era is intended to achieve three general goals: disrupt criminal operations, deter future criminal conduct, and raise money for law enforcement agencies. In the years since the 2008 financial collapse, cash-strapped agencies have employed civil forfeiture as a means of generating significant revenue. Because the drug trade is a primary target of civil forfeiture operations, traffic stops are a frequent method used by officers to seize assets, like cash. Roadways in border states, such as Texas and New Mexico, are popular seizure spots. In 2005, a motorist was stopped in Texas, 90 miles from the Mexico border, by a local sheriff's deputy. The motorist was given a document to sign and told that if he didn't agree to handing over all of his cash, he would be charged with money laundering. The deputies seized roughly $10,000 in cash. The motorist sued the country, and won-- he was awarded his approximate $10,000 plus an additional $110,000 in damages as well as attorney fees. Civil forfeiture is also a tool of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS seized over $100,000 from a convenient store owner in North Carolina on the suspicion of tax evasion. The store owner fought the forfeiture, and the case was eventually dismissed. In 2014, the Washington Post uncovered remarkable examples of abuse of federal asset forfeiture programs. Reporters searched through thousands of reports submitted by state and local law enforcement agencies to the Justice Department's Equitable Sharing Program and found $2.5 billion in annual spending of 'forfeiture dollars.' Approximately eighty percent of the cash from the asset proceeds were from cases where no criminal charge was ever filed. As part of the Justice Department's Equitable Sharing Program, proceeds were to be used for law enforcement purposes or operations only. However, the article detailed how police departments tended to spend their forfeiture cash, and the reports uncovered that many departments purchased high-tech gear or military vehicles. More unconventional examples of spending were also found, such as the hiring of a clown to improve 'community relations' and the purchase of a $600 coffee maker. In early 2015, the Department of Justice announced that it would no longer permit cash and property seizures under the Equitable Sharing Program. The decision carved out some exceptions for public safety-- for example, law enforcement agencies may still seize illegal firearms, ammunition, explosives, and property associated with child pornography. Law enforcement agencies may continue to seize cash and property under state laws, but they no longer have the option of sharing forfeiture proceeds with the federal government. Civil forfeiture is a procedure used by the federal and state governments to seize assets without filing a criminal charge. The process is intended to disrupt complex criminal operations, like drug trafficking rings. Civil forfeiture procedures originated in 1600s British Navigation laws and experienced a rebirth in the 1980s. Since then, civil forfeiture procedures have been abused in many cases in which law enforcement agencies have used the assets seized for unwarranted or unnecessary purchases. Register to view this lesson Unlock Your Education See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.com Become a Study.com member and start learning now. Become a MemberAlready a member? Log In Resources created by teachers for teachers I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. It’s like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. I feel like it’s a lifeline.

https://study.com/academy/lesson/civil-forfeiture-definition-laws-abuse.html

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The quest for every scientific endeavour is to collect data and make sense out of it. Engineering was born from understanding the behaviour of systems and materials through analyzing data and mapping patterns from it. Civil engineering is a branch of engineering, with its principles always relying on empirical methods, where data collection is paramount for understanding materials behaviour and predicting structural response. With the recent advancement in Artificial intelligence and machine learning, where computer systems can understand patterns from data, interest from researchers in civil engineering is growing exponentially. Some of the areas researchers are actively utilizing machine learning in civil engineering are as follows. 1. construction management: For every civil engineering project to be successfully executed, cost, quality and time must be the governing direction that all stakeholders will follow. Cost is the most significant factor for deciding project success. Many researchers are utilizing artificial neural networks to come up with models that will predict the cost of capital intensive projects like bridges, highways, sports fields and cement plants at the initial phase of projects when design data is not available. These models are trained using past projects data, using design parameters as the features and the cost as the label. 2. Structural engineering: The efficiency and precision of how some things in nature carry their weight and distribute it to the ground have been a concern for structural engineers for centuries. Many iconic structural designs we see today were inspired by nature. Examples include the Beijing national stadium, inspired by a birds nest. Structural engineers are now able to design better structures thanks to generative design. Machine-learning has also been applied in structural health monitoring where large vibration data are analysed by either a support vector machine or a neural network and classify whether a structure is damaged or not. 3. Geotechnical engineering Since most civil engineering structures are anchored to the ground, the issue of understanding the behaviour of soil under different stress conditions has been the interest of a subfield in civil engineering, called geotechnical engineering. Understanding soil behaviour under different stress conditions requires an engineer to collect huge soil samples, conduct laboratory experiment and analyzes the data, which is on most occasions, time labour intensive and time-consuming. Machine learning is becoming more applied in areas of geotechnics like the prediction of optimum moisture content and maximum dry density from using simple index properties like liquid limit, plastic limit, shrinkage and particle size distribution. Such models are designed using artificial neural networks and they have the potential of reducing labour intensive and time-consuming experiments like proctor compaction tests. 4. water resources and environmental engineering: There is a saying that water is life. That means in its absence comes the end of all life that exists on earth. Despite water sustaining life to most of the earth species, it has also a dark side of creating destruction through events like flooding. Machine learning applications to water resources have increased in recent years, allowing researchers to offer novel solutions to challenging problems with excess rainfall which induces flooding. Many researchers have reported promising outcomes of deep learning models on radar rainfall nowcasting or high-resolution forecasting of precipitation. The use of deep learning models (ConvLSTM) in radar rainfall nowcasting and flood forecasting has been studied. The deep learning model employs a blend of convolutional neural networks, which are extensively used in computer vision tasks like face recognition and image classification, and recurrent neural networks, which are commonly used in language translation. To anticipate future water levels at 5 places in Singapore's Bedok Catchment, deep learning models were trained using past observed radar data from Meteorological Service Singapore. The result of such studies could be beneficial to tropical countries with changing weather patterns. There are no comments for this story Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

https://vocal.media/education/areas-machine-learning-is-utilized-in-the-field-of-civil-engineering-research

Education

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China must close down ‘wet markets’ now As the world gets smaller and populations travel with speed around the world, it is time that the world focus on the domestic food laws in countries like China and others that are not up to the standards of health, safety and welfare — for their own populations and those beyond their borders. The current COVID-19 crisis was born out of people who worked and shopped at a “wet market” in Wuhan, China. A wet market sells live and dead animals —including fish, birds, badgers, bats, pangolins (scaly anteaters), and turtles — for human consumption. These markets are wet. Water splashes over the sides of open tubs filled with live sea animals that will inevitably be killed; countertops and floors are streaked red with the insides of gutted fish and the blood of slaughtered animals. China is notorious for lack of hygiene and government oversight of their domestic wet markets. There are separate rules in China for food commodities for export and those for local consumption. The only problem with this duplicity is that it keeps neither their people safe nor those beyond their borders. In recent years we have seen an alarming uptick in deadly viruses emerging from human contact with live animals. The deadliest viruses emerged from human contact with live animals: - Asian Flu in 1957-1958 from a mutation in wild ducks — at least 1.1 million dead - H5N1 Bird Flu in 1997 from Chinese geese — at least 455 dead - SARS in 2002-2003 from wild animals (perhaps bats, civet cats) — at least 774 dead - H7N9 Bird Flu in 2013 from poultry at live bird market — about 610 dead - Novel Coronavirus/COVID-19 in 2019-present from wild animals (perhaps bats) in a wet market in Wuhan — 40,000 dead, and counting China’s domestic demand and customs for exotic and live food are a direct threat to the health, safety and welfare of the world. We can no longer allow China’s domestic actions — and inaction — to threaten the world health and economy. National Geographic reports that the Chinese government allows 54 wild species to be bred on farms and sold for consumption, including minks, ostriches, hamsters, snapping turtles, and Siamese crocodiles. Many wild animals, such as snakes and birds of prey, are poached and brought to state-licensed farms, says Zhou Jinfeng, secretary-general of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, an NGO in Beijing that helped with the bird rescue in September. Zhou said some farmers claim that their animals were bred legally in captivity for conservation but then sell them to markets or collectors. It’s unknown how many live wildlife markets exist in China, but experts estimate they could number in the hundreds. Some department and big-box stores also sell wild meat and live amphibians for consumption. For market buyers, frogs are a common and inexpensive wildlife dish, says Peter Li, China policy specialist at Humane Society International and professor in East Asian politics at the University of Houston-Downtown. On the high end, Li says, only the rich can afford soup made with palm civet (a cat-size mammal native to jungles throughout Southeast Asia), fried cobra, or braised bear paw. Such food was not part of Li’s experience growing up. “My parents never cooked wild animals, and [we’ve] never eaten them. I’ve never had snake — much less cobra.” China is a dictatorship. They could end wet markets tomorrow if they wanted. The fact they allow them to exist is unconscionable. China has no regard for the individual. It is all about the perpetuation of the State. When China’s domestic governance threatens the world, that’s when the world needs to change China’s domestic policies. The United States — the country now most affected by COVID-19 — must demand China make institutional changes in their domestic food safety policies to help eliminate the threat of pandemic. How many more animal-born viruses must we fall victim to before we demand that China and others stop the behavior that most often causes them? China cannot be trusted. We must form an international coalition to investigate China’s food safety and health protocols, reporting and prevention. And, we must also call for the immediate closures of all “wet markets” and enforce severe penalties for those who deal with the sale of wild animals that are known to spread illness. Bradley A. Blakeman was a deputy assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2004. A principal of the 1600 Group, a strategic communications firm, he is an adjunct professor of public policy and international affairs at Georgetown University and a frequent guest on Fox News and Fox Business. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/490528-china-must-close-down-wet-markets-now

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Scientists discover cure for diabetes There is good news for diabetic patients. They will no longer need to inject insulin – thanks to a treatment involving the use of insulin-producing cells which Harvard University scientists discovered how to make. The cure could, therefore, be imminent as the scientists have produced large volumes of laboratory-grown pancreatic cells required for one-off transplantation in patients. The breakthrough has been hailed and compared to the invention of antibiotics. It involved identifying how to efficiently turn both stem cell types into beta cells. The cells, millions of which were manufactured, produced insulin, responded to glucose, worked on mice for many months and will soon be used to treat humans. The discovery is the result of 23 years of research by Harvard Professor Doug Melton, whose study of type 1 diabetes was prompted by his son having the condition as a six-month-old. His daughter received the same diagnoses. The cells could be used to treat all patients rather than each person needing their own genetically matched treatment. The cells tested on mice were placed in a porous capsule to protect them from attacks by the body’s immune system, while allowing the insulin to diffuse out. This means the cells could be produced on an industrial scale and used on patients without possible immune rejection, while the capsule could be replaced if it stopped working. A report on the work is published in the October 10 edition of the journal Cell. Online reports quoted Prof Melton as saying: “It was gratifying to know that we could do something that we always thought was possible, but many people felt it wouldn’t work. We are now just one pre-clinical step away from the finish line.” Asked about his children’s reaction he said: “I think like all kids, they always assumed that if I said I’d do this, I’d do it.” Prof Melton said the stem cell-derived beta cells are presently undergoing trials in animal models, including non-human primates, where they are still producing insulin after several months,. The team at Harvard used embryonic stem cells to produce human insulin-producing cells equivalent in almost every way to normally functioning cells. The Telegraph quoted Professor of Regenerative Medicine, University College London Chris Mason as saying the discovery was “potentially a major medical breakthrough”. “If this scalable technology is proven to work in both the clinic and in the manufacturing facility, the impact on the treatment of diabetes will be a medical game-changer on a par with antibiotics and bacterial infections,” he said. Head of Institute of Integrative Biology at the University of Liverpool, Prof Anthony Hollander, added: “This is very exciting fundamental research that solves a major roadblock in the development of a stem cell treatment for diabetes. “The study provides a very elegant and convincing method for generating functional insulin-producing cells in large numbers.” Prof Mark Dunne of Manchester University said: “Overall this is an important advance for the field of diabetes and people with Type 1 diabetes.” Prof Elaine Fuchs of Rockefeller University described the findings as “one of the most important advances to date in the stem cell field”, adding: “For decades, researchers have tried to generate human pancreatic beta cells that could be cultured and passaged long term under conditions where they produce insulin.” Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that causes the pancreas to stop producing insulin – the hormone that regulates blood glucose levels. If the amount of glucose in the blood is too high it can seriously damage the body’s organs over time. While diabetics can keep their glucose levels under general control by injecting insulin, that does not provide the fine tuning necessary to properly control metabolism, which can lead to devastating complications such as blindness or loss of limbs.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/scientists-discover-cure-for-diabetes/

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Around the globe, people will be coming together to mark World Kidney Day. How will you be celebrating? Let us know by posting information about your activity on our activity map! Take our quick fun-quiz and test your kidney health knowledge! While kidney disease can affect people of all ages and races, women tend to face more specific challenges linked to kidney disease. The risk of developing Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is at least as high in women as in men and may even be higher. Most organs of our body have strong links and interdependency. Heart and kidneys are not an exception. There is a strong connection between kidney disease and cardiovascular (heart and blood vessels) disease. Being overweight may increase the risk of developing a number of health issues, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, kidney disease, and, many more. By 2025, obesity will affect 18% of men and 21% of women worldwide. Organ donation refers to when a person allows his/her organ(s) to be removed, legally, with their consent while they are alive or with the consent of their next of kin if the donor is deceased. Transplantation is the transfer (engraftment) of cells, tissues or organs from one part of the body to another or from a donor to a recipient with the aim of restoring function(s) in the body. A selection of some of the best pictures of World Kidney Day throughout the years. See your activity, our team and all the ways you got involved during one of our many World Kidney Days. Stay informed about World Kidney Day by subscribing to our newsletter. You’ll receive just one or two communications per month, and we guarantee your information will remain private. Thank you for your support!

http://www.worldkidneyday.org

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Africans have been fighting slavery since early ADs. Lourenço da Silva Mendouça, the First world Abolitionist, was a Prince from the royal family of Ndongo Kingdom in Angola. He had successfully convinced authorities to end slavery in Europe. What Nafafé discovered is that in 1684, Mendonça went to the Vatican, where he accused the nations involved in the trans Atlantic slave trade of crimes against humanity. It was not just a petition, it became court cases, undertaken by Black Africans and supported through highly organized international solidarity. Why the Vatican? It was Pope VI who had issued Papal Bull that authorized Spain and Portugal to colonize and enslave Africa, America and the Natives in 1493 AD. Muhammed Ali was on Mike Douglas Show with Sly of The Family Stone as co-host when he complained about Slavery. One of the guests, Rep. Wayne L. Hays, claimed the African Chiefs were paid. What he did not say is that the slave raiders went back, captured the Chiefs and sold them into the plantations as the other slaves. https://youtu.be/uxrHEGNu6o4 Nafafé explained that “It has never been previously established by historians that Mendonça was an African, which is really incredible – that in the 1600s you had this African man who traveled all over Europe to mobilize an activist movement for the liberation not only of Black Africans, but also of Indigenous people in the Americas ... People always think that the legal abolitionist movement started in Britain, in the late 18th century, but Mendonça really forces us to review our positions on this.” https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/3/10/how-portugal-silenced-centuries-of-violence-and-trauma. Well before 300 AD, Africans had been fighting the Muslim Caliphate from Ghana to Songhai Empires. The Zanj fought and conquered the Abbāsid caliphal empire. Their fight for Freedom and Rebellions led to the Zanj superior power in Mesopotamia that ruled Basra in Iraq into Iran from 869 to 883 AD. It took all combined forces of Arab states before Arabs were later able to overcome them. Bookman, another captured African leader of Maroon and Vodou Houngan, fought for Freedom in Haiti for Independence from France. The wrong notion that freedom for people only exists within the Western Activists is astounding. It is well known in the Diaspora that the Chiefs that sold African slaves were later captured by the same raiders and sold in countries other slaves were. Researchers and genes tracers confirmed many of the slaves in the Americas came from the lines of Kings and Chiefs that sold slaves and were sold into slavery themselves. Many African Americans like the Zanj conqueror of Basra, are aware and proud of their royal blood from Africa. Yet some blame new African immigrants not the raided Chiefs, for selling them out; knowing pretty well that their sellers were also captured about the same time after they were. The African Chiefs that sold Africans into the Diaspora suffered the same fate when the slave raiders brought them into the Diaspora. Stop blaming all Africans at home, many rebeled against slave trade sacrificing their lives like Bookman, at home and abroad. When the African sellers arrived at the plantations, their subjects and fellow African slaves that got there earlier recognized them. Some ridiculed the new arrivals and others welcomed them with hostility. The hostility remained today within African American communities, disrespecting one another and hostile to recent African immigrants. Some African Americans still blame the captured and free Africans that escaped slavery, rebelled and fought against slavery. Muhamed Ali was right, when Sly Stone tried to distract him while answering Rep. Wayne Hays questions, he said: Black people spend so much time attacking one another, some of us become a distraction from the real goal of keeping our energy on the Prize. As the inhumanity of man to man became more vicious, free Africans at home rebelled and ran away as those on the slave ships and in the Diaspora. Indeed, France got reverse reparation from Haiti. Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka was at Cambridge Library Colloquium with Prof. Louis Gate of Harvard University talking about Black on Blacks angers from Nigeria/Ghana to South Africa/other Africans. Prof. Gates raised the issue of recent Africans immigrants. More than forty years after Mohamed Ali and Wayne Hays tangled on the Mike Douglas Show. Prof. Gates, like some African Americans, still thinks the African immigrants that sold them, follow them to America to share their quota. It was embarrassing for all Africans at home and in the Diaspora that the issue is still alive at Harvard of all places. Quota is dead in America. It was threatened by American white students in courts, not recent African immigrants. Indeed, the United States Supreme Court finally nailed it. Though replaced by Affirmative Action, that was also replaced by Diversity for all ethnic groups. The diversity is being threatened by Asians in Court suing that they were cheated in Admission to Harvard; not by the African students. No other ethnic group in America attacks their own from old countries. The Irish created special admission for their recent Irish immigrants just as the Italians, Polish, Ukrainians Americans welcome their recent immigrants. Africans must find better ways to reconcile their differences at home and in the Diaspora. Black on Black crimes must decrease below the level of White on White, Asians on Asians or Natives on Native crimes. People victimize their own at a greater proportion than they victimize others. But Africans have suffered in the hands of others more than any other continent. It is true that the Chiefs sold their own for guns and mirrors to capture more slaves, it does not justify liberty of worst mean spirited habits by individuals to lynch, slash and burn slaves for any or no reason. Indeed, Yoruba tradition cautions that the way a child was born, so was a slave. Bi a se bi Omo ni a se bi Eru. The cry for reparations must be understood as making amends for past injustices, not to displace or favor anyone. Those that have gained from past injustices against Africans and continue to exploit the people and the Continent must look for humane ways to make their profit and pay Africans reparations appropriately to those that are due. Unlike France that demanded and got reparations from its colonies from Haiti to Africa. Despite all the wars Africans fought against the Muslims and Christians coming as explorers and missionaries, sent into the Dark Continent for 500 years, the only miracle is that Africans have not been eliminated from the surface of the Earth. They are strong and resilient. We do not need anymore enemies within. Today we are lured, not forced into slave ships anymore. Most of the new Africans use life savings to buy tickets on Boeing 707 like the looters and their families. Farouk Martins Aresa @oomoaresa Health Insurance: Testimonies Trail Free Medical And Surgica Visit Markets On The Street To Properly Understand Nigerians Nafdac Seizes Fake Cosmetics Products Worth ₦37 Million In A Release Nnamdi Kanu To Celebrate Nigeria’s Independence Day— Iran Fires Over 200 Ballistic Missiles At Israel Emirates Airline Resumes Flight Operations To Nigeria Usaid State2state Wants Dialogue In Building Resilient Team Analysing Verydarman's Defence To His Alleged Defamation Of No Matter How Powerful You're, We'll Not Surrender To Barefa At 64 Years, Nigeria Stands Out As Nation In Decline— Peter All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. 2005-2024, © Copyright thenigerianvoice.com

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/312096/slaves-their-seller-chiefs-were-raided-by-arabs-european.html

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10 things to know about Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a Christian Holy Day of prayer, fasting and repentance. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent, the six weeks of penitence before Easter. Lent is celebrated as the season of preparation for the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday and seen as an opportunity to change what we ought within ourselves but have not. Christians ought to spend more time praying and reflecting as Lent is seen as an opportunity to transform one’s self spiritually. Below are 10 interesting facts about Ash Wednesday: 1. The Christian holy day marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day season of fasting that is considered preparation for Holy Week and the celebration of Easter. 2. As described in the book of Matthew, Lent mirrors Jesus’ personal 40-day period of fasting. 3. Although there is no Biblical reference to Ash Wednesday or Lent, Christians date the tradition back to 325 AD. 4. Observers have ashes placed on their foreheads in the shape of the cross as the words from Genesis 3:19 are spoken: “You are dust, and to dust, you shall return.” 5. The ashes are made by burning the blessed palms that were distributed the previous year on Palm Sunday. 6. People leave the ashes on their heads as a sign of humility 7. Ash Wednesday is observed by many Christians, including Anglicans, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Old Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics and some Baptists. 8. In the Roman Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is observed by fasting, abstinence from meat and repentance – a day of contemplating one’s transgressions 9. While not specifically instituted in the Bible text, the 40-day period of repentance is also analogous to the 40 days during which Moses repented and fasted in response to the making of the Golden calf. 10. The earliest date Ash Wednesday can occur is 4 February and the latest date Ash Wednesday can occur is 10 March.

http://thenationonlineng.net/10-things-to-know-about-ash-wednesday/

Politics

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An early-stage human clinical trial for an Ebola vaccine is likely to begin as early as September, 2014, the US National Institutes of Health has disclosed Though not the first human vaccine trial for the virus, the study comes after mounting pressure from health organisations to allow experimental treatments to be used on people at high risk of developing the disease. The vaccine, developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIAID, Vaccine Research Center, contains no infectious Ebola virus material. Instead, it is a chimpanzee adenovirus vector vaccine containing an insert of two Ebola genes. Adenovirus vectors are attractive delivery models for vaccine candidates because the virus can be easy manipulated. As a nonreplicating viral vector, the vaccine works by entering a cell and delivering the new genetic material. The new gene inserts cause a protein to become expressed, which in turn elicits Dr. Anthony Fauci, said the NIH’s Ebola vaccine has been studied in monkeys.”If it is successful, it will take until mid- to late-2015 before a limited number of vaccine doses would be ready to administer to health care workers, he said. The clinical trial participants won’t be exposed to the Ebola virus, Fauci said. Instead, they’ll stay in the United States, where they’ll be given a dose of the vaccine and tested to see if their antibody levels match the levels shown in monkey studies to protect the monkeys from Ebola. Scientists will also be watching for adverse reactions to the vaccine to make sure it is safe. Meanwhile, health campaigners have petitionedo the US Food and Drug Administration, FDA, asking it to speed up the authorisation of a new drug called TKM-Ebola which is widely believed to be a cure for EVD. TKM-Ebola is a promising vaccine on trial. In the petition entitled “Fast track Drug and vaccine research for Ebola Hemorrhagic fever”, the petitioners said given that at least one patient has transferred the disease from Liberia to Nigeria by air travel, the possibility of a global pandemic becomes increasingly likely. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/ebola-human-vaccine-trials-begin-sept/

Health

en

Dr. Henry Louis Gates’ fascinating, PBS mini-series Finding Your Roots, traces the ancestries of prominent Americans from Branford Marsalis and Condoleezza Rice, to Samuel L. Jackson and John Legend. But where the genealogical paper trail ends for many African-Americans, due to the history of slavery, the DNA search begins. One of the DNA experts assisting Professor Gates in the series is Dr. Rick Kittles, a brilliant, forty five-year old geneticist, who serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine; division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Kittles also is the co-founder and Scientific Director of African Ancestry, Inc., a nine year-old, ancestry tracing company with a DNA database comprised of over 25,000 African DNA lineages. EBONY spoke with Dr. Kittles about what DNA is, and how it reveals the hidden past, and complexity of our African-American heritage. EBONY: We’ve all heard of DNA, but give us a thumbnail sketch of what it actually is. Rick Kittles: DNA [deoxyribonucleic acid] is the genetic material – the chemical that’s in every cell of our body, that’s important for coding different physical features and traits. You receive half of your DNA from your mother, and the other half comes from your father. DNA is very instrumental in terms of coding for things that make us human: skin color, hair texture, eye color, and physical features. But it also [shows] susceptibility to cancer, diabetes, and other diseases. DNA is important for tracing ancestry because it’s like a record of the history of you as an individual, within your family, community, and within a particular region in the world. We can use that information to trace where a person’s ancestry came from. We can go all the way back to when humanity started in Africa over 150,000 years ago, or we can look at a more recent window, like for instance, right before the slave trade. Those changes in the DNA are different than the older changes that occurred 150,000 years ago. EBONY: We know what DNA tells us. What doesn’t it tell us? RK: It’s not going to tell us if a person who just got accepted into Harvard is actually going to be able to graduate [laughs]. It doesn’t provide useful information for behavioral or psychological traits. Also, as it relates to overall health, DNA plays some role, but it’s not one hundred percent. There are certain changes in the DNA that increase your risk for cancer, but what also plays a very significant role is exercise and lifestyle; what we consider the environment. EBONY: As far as tracing our ancestry is concerned, are there specific types of DNA that links us back to Africa? RK: The one that’s really informative for African-Americans is mitochondrial DNA [mtDNA]. It’s passed on through women. Males receive it from their mothers, but they can’t pass it on to their kids. It represents the lineage of women in the family. We also look at the Y chromosome DNA, which is a history of the male lineage in the family. There are DNA patterns that are specific to Africans: For instance, there’s what we call a Y chromosome alu polymorphism [YAP] that is found just in West Africa, and is definitive for West African ancestry. But the most interesting thing is, when we look at most African-American men, upwards of thirty five percent of their Y chromosomes don’t go back to Africa; but to Europe! EBONY: That’s because of slavery; African women mating with European men… RK: That’s right. It’s really the behavior of slaveholders during slavery and afterwards … It’s what we call sex-biased gene flow. Of the genes from Europeans that came into the African-American population, the majority of them came from men. EBONY: In the series, Professor Gates concluded that virtually all African-Americans are not one hundred percent African. Percentage wise, how do Black Americans break down, with regards to their African, European and Native American ancestries? RK: We call that the admixture analysis. The bulk of African-Americans have about on average, twenty percent European ancestry. So that means that most African-Americans are about eighty percent West African. There are also a significant portion of individuals who, like Professor Gates, have significant European ancestry. I would say upwards of about fifteen percent of all African-Americans have greater than fifty percent European ancestry. EBONY: Does DNA analysis also support Dr. Gates’ contention in the series that Black people have less Native American ancestry than they belief? RK: Yes. It does support that. But there could be several reasons for that: We claim Native American ancestry before we claim European ancestry … The other reason could be that some of the genetic markers that we have aren’t really that informative for Native American ancestry …The jury is still out. There is no strong consensus. We still maybe we’re missing a significant portion of the Native American gene pool, because many of them had died off. And so there are no pure Native Americans any more. So our ability to detect the Native American genetic component is rather limited. EBONY: One of the things that struck me in the series was that some of the African ancestry of the African-Americans profiled went not to familiar places like Senegal and Nigeria, but to Gabon, Guinea-Bissau and Cameroon. Was I thinking stereotypically? RK: Yes [laughs]. We learned a lot about where enslaved West Africans came from. And the stereotypic, Senegal/Nigeria [areas of origin] is inaccurate. While there was a portion of folk who came from those regions, it was a lot more than those two regions. We’re finding a lot of hits from Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau and Ghana. EBONY: It’s rare to see a Black company headed by a Black man in your scientific discipline. What sparked your interest in science? RK: African Ancestry was started because I wanted to know where I was from. And so my research focused more on trying to answer that question. And in doing so, different people heard about [my interest of study], and different media stories emerged. And I started becoming more overwhelmed with the general public asking me to help them. So I set up a company to help me do that that. I got into science and genetics because I wanted to know more about myself. And I felt that genetics would be quite helpful in answering those questions. EBONY: Having said that. What are your admixtures? RK: I have eighty percent West African ancestry, and twenty percent European ancestry. I tested four lineages in my family: Both of my mother’s parents go to Nigeria; one Hausa and one Ibo. And on my father’s side, Senegal – the Mandinka – and my Y chromosome is common in Germany.

http://www.ebony.com/life/dr-rick-kittles-breaks-down-dna#axzz54vwchTeGIf

Politics

en

THE first principle of unalienable rights recognises that everyone is naturally endowed by their Creator with certain rights that cannot be infringed or given away. Amongst these rights are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. In order to secure or safeguard these vital rights, “…government are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from consent of the governed” as declared by Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), who was elected as the third President of the United States of America (1801-1809). Constitutions are also made for the purpose of securing, protecting, promoting good governance, accountability and welfare of all citizens-the governed. The government instituted among men is the elected representatives who are also known as the politicians. These politicians are required to implement social reforms and policy measures that contribute to the general welfare of the populace. My little Oxford dictionary defines politician as “person engaged or interested in politics” and politics as “science and art of government; political affairs or life or principles etc.” Politics consists of “social relations involving authority and power”. A politician is defined as one who is actively involved in politics or one who holds or seeks a political office. A politician is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making in government. Politicians play a central role in our lives. They are the concentrated voices of the people that make all efforts to improve their constituencies and peoples’ welfare. Good and dependable politicians are always delighted to serve the people and consider themselves as servants and people their paymasters. They represent the hopes, aspirations and the interests of every citizen in the state. A politician’s qualities are his characters that are natural, while some of the qualities are as a result of external influences. Promising politicians’ qualities are often backed by skills, experiences, intelligence, integrity, with instincts -all combined together to achieve their goals. First and foremost, the best quality of a politician is honesty, God- fearing and loving. A faithful and effective politician is trustworthy and reliable. He must capture the essence of truth, display sincerity, candour and practices what he preaches. He makes decisions and accepts responsibility for his actions and his words. The same is true in his dealing with his people. He makes promises and keeps those promises. Someone that people may rely on. Loving people with all his heart, might, mind, soul and striving to help them as a true mark of responsible politician. Moreover, a fake politician, will after taking the oath of office with the Holy book and lousy thanksgiving services, use their power as an end in itself, rather than for public good, making them indifferent to the progress of their citizens. A good politician becomes the image of his creator. A good and responsible politician will give high regard for morality and be law-abiding with no tendency to corruption. The greatest strength of good politicians is deriving joy in serving people and not to steal tax payers money. They know that a fulfilling and meaningful life is created through service to others. To be an effective politician, your followers must have trust in you. And the very best way for a politician to build trust is to display good sense of character and qualities composed of values, beliefs, traits and skills. Another important quality of a good politician is integrity and technical skills to handle those challenging assignments, fiscal matters, policies, plans, projects, ideas and initiative solutions to problems. Integrity is consistency of actions, methods, measures, values, principles, expectations and outcomes. It is doing what is right, both legally and morally at all time even when no one is looking. Since politicians play very significant roles in the administrative processes, especially having hands in thousands of important laws and policies to their communities and country, they should be well-educated, modest, with experience in social welfare, volunteering or should have done some good work for the society. A politician should have a thorough knowledge and up-to-date information about the constituency where he is going to contest an election. Sir Winston Churchill, a famous British politician who served as Prime Minister twice (1940-45) and (1951-55) once said that “ a politician must have “the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen”. Hence, a political career is meant for the people of high integrity and additional skills to achieve results and finding better ways of making life better for the people they represent. Politics is not meant for dropped-outs, area fathers, thugs, assassins, criminals, illiterates god-fathers, inept, dubious and corrupt persons. These persons, apart from being greedy do not know the importance of education and can never invest properly in it. Good governance, transparency and accountability will elude states and nations where these aforementioned set of people find themselves in the corridor of power. An incompetent and irresponsible politician will make people hang around his house like bees to honey to feed them with “amala”, “tuwo” or “eba”just for days. He prefers to give out expensive gifts, donations and bribes from tax-payers money to win elections. An achiever will not need to do such things to win elections or people to their side in any instance. This is why you will hear people say “Politics is a bad game of deceit and hatred”, “Politics is a do or die affair”, “Politics is a dirty business”, “Politicians are very sick people” and so on. It is those politicians of limited merits and capabilities that are bad and not politics. They cannot do more than their moral and intellectual capacity offer. A true democratic government is the best concept for the growth of any nation. A good politician enriches lives and feeds souls of many people and not making them to become beggars, touts, kidnappers, armed-robbers and fraudsters. A good politician should be of a well disciplined personality with selfless service to make live better for his people. This should be reflected in the community where he lives in all ramifications. Discipline is necessary for an orderly society and political life, without it, the social life would become miserable. A selfless service is putting the welfare of the people you’re representing before your own. Winston Churchill described it as “the first of all human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others”. A good politician firmly believes in taking care and maintaining the community of his people. He believes that community service is about giving back. According to Theodore Roosevelt, “the most successful politician is he who says what the people are thinking most often in the loudest voice”. A person or politician who is with criminal background, or any links with criminals or whose allegations on corruption have not been cleared by the law court should be disqualified to participate in elections. Responsibility and party loyalty is another quality of responsible politician in a democratic state. A transparent politician is nearer to his people and meeting them to understand their problems. Only fake politicians are seen by voters when an election is near or change parties as footballers change clubs. As every parent has its responsibility to teach their children the principles of moral, culture, truth, sincerity to be self- responsible, so politicians need to integrate its citizens with importance of political responsibility and democratic values. A politician leads by example and knows his minimum responsibilities as an elected representative. A politician comes to politics to work for his constituents and not to work against them. He is the beck and call of the people and ready to listen to everybody. All these build a strong foundation for a dynamic society which will create solutions for any challenges, and finally develop strategies and political systems that will help implement those solutions automatically. He is quick to give hand to his fellow man. A reliable politician should be very loyal and committed to his party which shares his vision and goals. The value of loyalty simply depends on trust. A citizen should belong to a party with most brilliant, skilful, patriotic and dynamic people with common goals and aspirations. Team work best when they have common goals, mutual respect and understanding of each party member’s strength. Politics is to unite and reach consensus and not to divide or create enmity among people. Power is only a product of collective action. Mr. ADEWALE AKANDE a political analyst, wrote from Barcelona, Spain. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/07/quality-of-a-good-politician-in-a-democratic-society/

Politics

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Emily Whitehead obtaining the remarkable HIV-gene therapy that “cured” her leukaemia By Sola Ogundipe Year 2012 was replete with an array of medical and scientific breakthroughs. From January through December, series of world-changing innovations were recorded across the world. However, one of the biggest and most sensational breakthroughs of the year involved Emily Whitehead, a 7-year-old girl, whose acute leukaemia (blood cancer) was effectively “cured” by HIV. Emily who had been battling the potentially fatal lymphoblastic leukaemia since May 2010, recovered dramatically after the HIV-procured antidote proved that scientists can successfully use HIV to kill cancer. After series of chemotherapy failed to work, Emily underwent a new experimental gene therapy pioneered by the University of Pennsylvania to eradicate blood cancers. The procedure involved “tricking” Emily’s immune system into fighting the cancer In the experimental treatment, a disabled form of HIV was used to essentially rewrite her T-cells to be programmed to attack B-cells, which become malignant when suffering from leukaemia. Researchers say the therapy is personalized using each patient’s immune system’s “T cells.” Three weeks after the infusion in April, Emily was completely free of the leukaemia that had been on the verge of killing her. Reports say she is recovering well at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Today, in the war against cancer, Emily is at the forefront. The therapy, culminating 20 years of research, involves genetically engineering T cells – the immune system’s big guns – to attack B cells, the blood component that turns malignant in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Although T cell therapy can have catastrophic side effects,doctors say it pointed the way to an antidote or the deadly blood cancer. But the novel therapy that has tamed terminal leukaemia in seven of the first 10 patients might be deemed too risky for further testing. There are concerns that interfering with the immune system is too risky. Of the 10, only two patients have not gotten better on the T cell therapy, even though all had stopped responding to conventional treatments. Four patients have had a complete response – their leukaemia was eradicated – with the longest so far lasting 28 months. In four other patients, leukemia diminished dramatically. The research team, led by gene-therapy pioneer Carl June, is optimistic about the outcomes of the study which have been so stunning the world has noticed. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/12/2012-scientists-cure-leukaemia-with-hiv/

Health

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Acculturation of European ways of life into African communities was intentionally planned to suppress our cultures and create longing demands for Foreign culture and tastes. Until Africans rediscover and refine their own culture, we will always fall for others' products inadvertently denying us Economic Independence.The British formed a class of Africans that pushed English taste, opinions, morals, and intellect on those they ruled. Acculturation is hidden in plain sight yet insidious and debilitating to African psyche. It is behind our abnormal behavior of tight affinity to what is outside our reach like foreign money we cannot print. If we look carefully at the reasons for unprecedented corruption, crime waves, desperation to acquire, no matter the price we pay, it boils down to enabling us to afford Foreign goods, services and travels. The desire for each of these requires accumulation of money outside our control in African countries since we cannot exchange our money as legal tender for their goods. This greed for Foreign money to acquire English tastes and culture was implanted a long time ago to promote foreign readymades, manufactured Plastics such as designer products. Indeed, it led to the demise of textile industries in Africa and India while the British picked up the monopoly. They mined gold in Gold Coast only to pay taxes and royalties to themselves. Recruited African soldiers to fight for Freedom in World War I and II while colonizing Africa. Lord Thomas McCauley was a committed racist, a colonial apologist that passionately believed there was no other ‘culture’ beyond Europe. The Whig Party members like Lord Thomas McCauley in 1835 understood the proud people they were up against because of African Empires higher moral values and cultures. War of suppression could work for a while, but as committed racists, English language and culture had to be sold as the Savior to Africans as modern, civilized and superior. It worked so well that up to the 21th Century, African Youths sought their Salvation not at home but from Foreign cultures and lands. Conservatives play politics of exploitations, even when some claimed they regretted Slave Labor, they still see Slavery as a "necessary evil" without which they would not have been the richest Economy. What they are doing today is to rebrand Slavery mentally and make it palatable for consumption by African Youths needed for Slave Labor whereever they are or rushing abroad by any means. Africans must also accept faults and responsibility. Believe it or not, there are mental slaves that have been badly treated in Africa as outcasts: Eru, Osu, Oru etc. They see Foreign Mission as an escape to Freedom. They come from the poorest villages in Africa and so labelled their homes with despicable names. Their escape is nothing short of emancipation. The cities around their villages mesmerize them, not to mention escape into foreign land. Even worse, the products of their colonial education, forced the use of English and culture that is so entrenched, these 21 Century African graduates die for more because their tastes, culture and self confidence have been displaced. The consequences of the suppression of African cultures as postulated on February 2nd,1835 by one Lord McCauley that the only way to capture the minds, hearts and pockets of Africans was to make them forget their Culture, has proven to be true. He claimed he has never seen people of such high moral values and would never be conquered unless they break their spiritual and Cultural heritage, the African backbone with English values. Africans have to be programmed to think that all that is foreign is better and greater than their own. Today, Africans argue against their own culture no matter how refined and bask in Foreign cultures and languages. Unfortunately, the Untouchables are willing to accept conditions much better than those subjected to by their own cultures as Oru, Osu or Eru. Their inhumane treatment at home can be more severe in their villages and cities than those from foreign lands posing as their saviors and "benefactors". Even locals may turn out to be trafficking Travel Agents, Madams in the house of prostitutes or sell them into another form of slavery where they could be used as body parts donors. If that is the case for the unfortunate ones, how do we explain the tracking of highly educated and talented Africans relatively better off, out of their own countries? If reorientation is so simple, why have we not eliminated or reduced acculturation in Africa? The fact is, each of these cases have been dwelled on in African countries but have never been able to sustain the reorientations. What is unfortunate in the ways these eyesores were dealt with, came through military means to discourage corruption and foreign demands. Nzeogwu tried it in Nigeria but he was betrayed by comrades. Jerry Rawlings succeeded in Ghana for a few years and relapsed. Buhari/Idiagbon succeeded for a few years and his comrades's Palace coup derailed it in order to accept Structural Adjustment. The beginning of the end of African middle class. Sakara later tried it in Burkina Faso but lost his life. Osagyefo Nkrumah of Ghana remained the most outspoken African Head of State that survived long enough to change foreigners dominated landscape in Africa. As much as Lumumba of Congo tried, colonialists got him. Even Mwalimu Nyerere's Ujamaa was sabotaged. The difference here was that Nkrumah implemented Cultural Reorientation for different segments of the Country from Arts, Musicians to other controversial areas. The reason the impact of this has been overlooked over the years is because it was simple, inexpensive, local and seen as 'dictatorship'. Notwithstanding some Ghanaians as Kofi Busia political reservation about Nkrumah. He recognized acculturation and the need to reorient African cultures that had been replaced with Eurocentric cultures to dominate Africa. Today, Nkrumah legacy transcends controversies within Ghana and outside. It was an open debate in England up to the 19th Century within the Whig Party on the best way to conquer Africans and Asians. Fortune hunters and Religious Missionaries had their Governments on standby in case of resistance by Africans and they subdued the Resistance of Ashanti, Yoruba, Zulu and others with their Foreign troops soliciting one African Army or more to suppress local resistance. Imagine if this type of Nkrumah Cultural Reorientation was conducted at all levels in every African Country. Obsession with Foreign ideas, goods, services, used and discarded products could have been frowned on. We are suffering from the neglect of simple but highly effective measures that could have sustained our future Economic Independence. This idea that if it is not expensive and labor intensive, it cannot succeed must be reexamined. Health Insurance: Testimonies Trail Free Medical And Surgica Visit Markets On The Street To Properly Understand Nigerians Nafdac Seizes Fake Cosmetics Products Worth ₦37 Million In A Release Nnamdi Kanu To Celebrate Nigeria’s Independence Day— Iran Fires Over 200 Ballistic Missiles At Israel Emirates Airline Resumes Flight Operations To Nigeria Usaid State2state Wants Dialogue In Building Resilient Team Analysing Verydarman's Defence To His Alleged Defamation Of No Matter How Powerful You're, We'll Not Surrender To Barefa At 64 Years, Nigeria Stands Out As Nation In Decline— Peter All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. 2005-2024, © Copyright thenigerianvoice.com

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/291315/de-acculturation-of-africa-into-the-21st-century.html

Politics

en

When children are young, it’s adorable to see them imitate their parents: little boys wanting to shave alongside Dad and little girls swinging a tennis racket like Mom. That glow of pride fades when kids begin to reflect some less-stellar behavior, whether it’s sloppiness or being late to everything. Some behavior kids learn from their parents can be chalked up to personality quirks but others, like aggressive driving or disregarding red lights, need to be corrected. Teens are historically in the highest risk group for auto accidents, and such accidents are the leading cause of death for the age group. Study on Mobile Phone Use While Driving Texting and driving statistics show that six teens ages 16-19 die per day and hundreds more are injured in auto accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Nine people in the U.S. die per day, on average, as a result of distracted driving. And an American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety study used in-car cameras to determine that 60 percent of teen driving accidents were the result of distracted driving, but that’s not all: there’s further evidence that the problem with teen cell phone use while driving is significant. As the least experienced drivers, teens are likely to make errors behind the wheel when they are distracted. That’s why a majority of states have texting laws that limit teen driving to certain hours, may prohibit junior operators from driving with friends in the car, and often ban cell phone use by young drivers. More than three dozen states also limit or prohibit hand-held phone use by all drivers because they are documented as hazardous for any driver to use. Learning Through Imitation According to psychiatric specialists, children learn not only how to accomplish tasks by watching their parents but they also learn their parents’ behaviors in the process. That means that a child who is learning to drive will not only absorb and imitate the process of starting a vehicle and putting it into gear but will also mimic the parent’s behavior of checking mirrors before pulling into traffic or adjusting the seat to a comfortable position. New drivers are also likely to subconsciously follow a parent’s lead in either turning off and stowing a cell phone while at the wheel or checking it obsessively even when driving. In Ford’s Parents Supervised Driving Program, an instruction booklet for those teaching their children to drive, modeling good driving habits and behaviors is emphasized. “Set a good example,” it says, including refraining from texting or using a cell phone while at the wheel. Staying focused on the task at hand is also important, so talking to a teen about grades or his friends while driving is also discouraged. Distractions other than cell phones include: - Having friends in the car; - Eating while driving, or - Applying makeup or grooming. Studies of experienced drivers (adults) show that drivers are aware that distractions can cause accidents but they don’t change their behavior. Even taking one’s eyes off the road for two seconds doubles the risk of crashing, according to one source, but one in 20 drivers continues to use hand-held cell phones and to engage in other distracted driving. Self-reported Distracted Driving More than half of teen auto accidents are related to distracted driving, studies show, and the rate of teen cell phone use varies by geographic location. The American Association of Family Practitioners, a medical society, surveyed teen drivers and found that one-third of teens texts on a cell phone while driving. The survey of more than 100,000 teen drivers revealed that 40 percent texted while driving sometimes, and over 15 percent texted frequently while driving. Yet the survey was criticized for not tallying other distractions like downloading, watching videos, and looking for music on phones while driving, all of which can be significant distractions. Teens in rural mountain states like South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Nebraska reported texting while driving closer to 50 percent of the time while their peers in urban areas like Maryland were less likely to do so. Worse than the driving and texting numbers, the survey showed that older teens (age 18 and above) were more likely to engage in distracted driving as well as more likely to participate in other forms of dangerous motor vehicle operation like driving under the influence and not wearing a seat belt. Because alcohol and drug use is known to reduce inhibitions, it’s likely that teens who are inclined to drink and drive would be more tempted to reach for a phone when operating a motor vehicle after imbibing, accelerating the likelihood of a dangerous situation. Parents Set the Stage The physician’s group’s assessment of the survey results says that doctors not only should discuss the dangers of distracted driving with the teens they see but should also emphasize to parents the importance of being a good role model behind the wheel. Tactics the physician’s group suggests parents may use to reduce distracted driving include: - modeling good behavior like shutting phones off when driving or muting the ringer; - offering incentives to leave a teen’s phone at home; - seeking out new car options like Ford’s MyKey option that allows a parent to set speed controls and to enforce seat belt use; - using a cell phone app like TextArrest that senses movement and blocks text messaging. Another incentive for parents to use is legal: states are serious about reducing distracted driving. In Iowa, drivers who are involved in fatal accidents when texting can be charged with a felony and imprisoned for up to 10 years. In New Hampshire, any use of a cell phone while driving carries a financial penalty, and a third infraction can result in a two-year suspension of driving privileges.

http://www.textinganddrivingsafety.com/texting-and-driving-stories/Keri

Family

en

JERUSALEM A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days. If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time. The tablet, probably found near the Dead Sea in Jordan according to some scholars who have studied it, is a rare example of a stone with ink writings from that era in essence, a Dead Sea Scroll on stone. It is written, not engraved, across two neat columns, similar to columns in a Torah. But the stone is broken, and some of the text is faded, meaning that much of what it says is open to debate. Still, its authenticity has so far faced no challenge, so its role in helping to understand the roots of Christianity in the devastating political crisis faced by the Jews of the time seems likely to increase. Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmudic culture at the University of California at Berkeley, said that the stone was part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that Jesus could be best understood through a close reading of the Jewish history of his day. “Some Christians will find it shocking a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology while others will be comforted by the idea of it being a traditional part of Judaism,” Mr. Boyarin said. Given the highly charged atmosphere surrounding all Jesus-era artifacts and writings, both in the general public and in the fractured and fiercely competitive scholarly community, as well as the concern over forgery and charlatanism, it will probably be some time before the tablet’s contribution is fully assessed. It has been around 60 years since the Dead Sea Scrolls were uncovered, and they continue to generate enormous controversy regarding their authors and meaning. The scrolls, documents found in the Qumran caves of the West Bank, contain some of the only known surviving copies of biblical writings from before the first century A.D. In addition to quoting from key books of the Bible, the scrolls describe a variety of practices and beliefs of a Jewish sect at the time of Jesus. How representative the descriptions are and what they tell us about the era are still strongly debated. For example, a question that arises is whether the authors of the scrolls were members of a monastic sect or in fact mainstream. A conference marking 60 years since the discovery of the scrolls will begin on Sunday at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where the stone, and the debate over whether it speaks of a resurrected messiah, as one iconoclastic scholar believes, also will be discussed. Oddly, the stone is not really a new discovery. It was found about a decade ago and bought from a Jordanian antiquities dealer by an Israeli-Swiss collector who kept it in his Zurich home. When an Israeli scholar examined it closely a few years ago and wrote a paper on it last year, interest began to rise. There is now a spate of scholarly articles on the stone, with several due to be published in the coming months. “I couldn’t make much out of it when I got it,” said David Jeselsohn, the owner, who is himself an expert in antiquities. “I didn’t realize how significant it was until I showed it to Ada Yardeni, who specializes in Hebrew writing, a few years ago. She was overwhelmed. ‘You have got a Dead Sea Scroll on stone,’ she told me.” Much of the text, a vision of the apocalypse transmitted by the angel Gabriel, draws on the Old Testament, especially the prophets Daniel, Zechariah and Haggai. Ms. Yardeni, who analyzed the stone along with Binyamin Elitzur, is an expert on Hebrew script, especially of the era of King Herod, who died in 4 B.C. The two of them published a long analysis of the stone more than a year ago in Cathedra, a Hebrew-language quarterly devoted to the history and archaeology of Israel, and said that, based on the shape of the script and the language, the text dated from the late first century B.C. A chemical examination by Yuval Goren, a professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University who specializes in the verification of ancient artifacts, has been submitted to a peer-review journal. He declined to give details of his analysis until publication, but he said that he knew of no reason to doubt the stone’s authenticity. It was in Cathedra that Israel Knohl, an iconoclastic professor of Bible studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, first heard of the stone, which Ms. Yardeni and Mr. Elitzur dubbed “Gabriel’s Revelation,” also the title of their article. Mr. Knohl posited in a book published in 2000 the idea of a suffering messiah before Jesus, using a variety of rabbinic and early apocalyptic literature as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls. But his theory did not shake the world of Christology as he had hoped, partly because he had no textual evidence from before Jesus. When he read “Gabriel’s Revelation,” he said, he believed he saw what he needed to solidify his thesis, and he has published his argument in the latest issue of The Journal of Religion. Mr. Knohl is part of a larger scholarly movement that focuses on the political atmosphere in Jesus’ day as an important explanation of that era’s messianic spirit. As he notes, after the death of Herod, Jewish rebels sought to throw off the yoke of the Rome-supported monarchy, so the rise of a major Jewish independence fighter could take on messianic overtones. In Mr. Knohl’s interpretation, the specific messianic figure embodied on the stone could be a man named Simon who was slain by a commander in the Herodian army, according to the first-century historian Josephus. The writers of the stone’s passages were probably Simon’s followers, Mr. Knohl contends. The slaying of Simon, or any case of the suffering messiah, is seen as a necessary step toward national salvation, he says, pointing to lines 19 through 21 of the tablet “In three days you will know that evil will be defeated by justice” and other lines that speak of blood and slaughter as pathways to justice. To make his case about the importance of the stone, Mr. Knohl focuses especially on line 80, which begins clearly with the words “L’shloshet yamin,” meaning “in three days.” The next word of the line was deemed partially illegible by Ms. Yardeni and Mr. Elitzur, but Mr. Knohl, who is an expert on the language of the Bible and Talmud, says the word is “hayeh,” or “live” in the imperative. It has an unusual spelling, but it is one in keeping with the era. Two more hard-to-read words come later, and Mr. Knohl said he believed that he had deciphered them as well, so that the line reads, “In three days you shall live, I, Gabriel, command you.” To whom is the archangel speaking? The next line says “Sar hasarin,” or prince of princes. Since the Book of Daniel, one of the primary sources for the Gabriel text, speaks of Gabriel and of “a prince of princes,” Mr. Knohl contends that the stone’s writings are about the death of a leader of the Jews who will be resurrected in three days. He says further that such a suffering messiah is very different from the traditional Jewish image of the messiah as a triumphal, powerful descendant of King David. “This should shake our basic view of Christianity,” he said as he sat in his office of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where he is a senior fellow in addition to being the Yehezkel Kaufman Professor of Biblical Studies at Hebrew University. “Resurrection after three days becomes a motif developed before Jesus, which runs contrary to nearly all scholarship. What happens in the New Testament was adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier messiah story.” Ms. Yardeni said she was impressed with the reading and considered it indeed likely that the key illegible word was “hayeh,” or “live.” Whether that means Simon is the messiah under discussion, she is less sure. Moshe Bar-Asher, president of the Israeli Academy of Hebrew Language and emeritus professor of Hebrew and Aramaic at the Hebrew University, said he spent a long time studying the text and considered it authentic, dating from no later than the first century B.C. His 25-page paper on the stone will be published in the coming months. Regarding Mr. Knohl’s thesis, Mr. Bar-Asher is also respectful but cautious. “There is one problem,” he said. “In crucial places of the text there is lack of text. I understand Knohl’s tendency to find there keys to the pre-Christian period, but in two to three crucial lines of text there are a lot of missing words.” Moshe Idel, a professor of Jewish thought at Hebrew University, said that given the way every tiny fragment from that era yielded scores of articles and books, “Gabriel’s Revelation” and Mr. Knohl’s analysis deserved serious attention. “Here we have a real stone with a real text,” he said. “This is truly significant.” Mr. Knohl said that it was less important whether Simon was the messiah of the stone than the fact that it strongly suggested that a savior who died and rose after three days was an established concept at the time of Jesus. He notes that in the Gospels, Jesus makes numerous predictions of his suffering and New Testament scholars say such predictions must have been written in by later followers because there was no such idea present in his day. But there was, he said, and “Gabriel’s Revelation” shows it. “His mission is that he has to be put to death by the Romans to suffer so his blood will be the sign for redemption to come,” Mr. Knohl said. “This is the sign of the son of Joseph. This is the conscious view of Jesus himself. This gives the Last Supper an absolutely different meaning. To shed blood is not for the sins of people but to bring redemption to Israel.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/world/middleeast/06stone.html?_r=1&oref=sloginTablet

Religion

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The Bermuda Triangle, has captured the imagination of people around the world for decades. Situated in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean, the Bermuda Triangle is notorious for its alleged role in the disappearance of numerous ships and aircraft under mysterious circumstances. From ancient legends to modern-day mysteries, the Bermuda Triangle continues to fascinate and perplex, inviting speculation and debate about its true nature. The legend of the Bermuda Triangle dates back centuries, with tales of ships and aircraft vanishing without a trace in the region. According to popular lore, the Bermuda Triangle is a place where compasses malfunction, electronic devices fail, and navigational instruments go haywire. Countless theories have been proposed to explain the disappearances, ranging from supernatural forces to extraterrestrial activity. The origins of the Bermuda Triangle myth can be traced back to the early 20th century, with reports of ships and aircraft disappearing in the region gaining widespread attention in the media. One of the most famous incidents occurred in 1945, when Flight 19, a squadron of five U.S. Navy bombers, disappeared during a training exercise over the Bermuda Triangle. Despite extensive search efforts, no trace of the aircraft or its crew was ever found. While the Bermuda Triangle has captured the public's imagination, scientists and researchers offer more mundane explanations for the disappearances. One theory suggests that methane hydrates, a type of natural gas found beneath the ocean floor, could cause ships to suddenly lose buoyancy and sink without warning. Another theory points to sudden and severe weather patterns, such as rogue waves and hurricanes, which could engulf ships and aircraft with little warning. Skepticism and Debunking: Despite the prevalence of Bermuda Triangle myths, many skeptics argue that the disappearances can be attributed to natural causes and human error. They point to the vastness of the ocean and the inherent dangers of maritime and aviation travel as more plausible explanations for the incidents. Moreover, some researchers argue that the number of disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle is no higher than in any other heavily trafficked area of the ocean. The Bermuda Triangle has become a cultural phenomenon, inspiring countless books, movies, and television shows. From thrilling tales of adventure to speculative documentaries, the Bermuda Triangle has captured the imagination of storytellers and audiences alike. Its allure lies in its mysterious reputation, which continues to captivate and intrigue people around the world. The Bermuda Triangle remains one of the greatest mysteries of the modern era, a place where fact and fiction blur, and legends abound. While skeptics may dismiss the disappearances as the result of natural phenomena and human error, the allure of the Bermuda Triangle endures, inviting speculation and debate about its true nature. Whether viewed as a cautionary tale or a source of wonder, the Bermuda Triangle continues to capture the imagination and inspire fascination, reminding us of the enduring mysteries that lie beneath the surface of the ocean. In the end, the Bermuda Triangle remains a tantalizing enigma that continues to capture the imagination of adventurers, researchers, and storytellers alike. Whether viewed as a place of supernatural phenomena or as a product of natural forces and human error, its allure endures as a symbol of the mysteries that lie hidden beneath the surface of the ocean. As we navigate the murky waters of the Bermuda Triangle myth, we are reminded of the human impulse to seek answers to the unknown and the enduring allure of the unexplained. Whether the Bermuda Triangle is a place of supernatural forces or simply a product of human imagination, its legacy endures as a testament to the power of mystery and the enduring quest for understanding in an uncertain world. There are no comments for this story Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

https://vocal.media/earth/secrets-of-the-bermuda-triangle-fact-or-fiction

Travel

en

Criminology is the systematic study of crime and its prevention. Criminologists apply themselves to difficult questions such as, "Why does crime occur?" Among the answers that they have come up with is that crime springs naturally from the biological nature of certain individuals. This biological theory of criminology has a very long history, but it stood on shaky evidence for a long time. In the 1800s and the 1900s, people who believed in the biological theory of crime claimed that some people are inferior to others and should not be allowed to reproduce. The evidence that they relied upon was of very poor quality, but many Westerners agreed with them. Today, the biological theory of criminology is seeing a resurgence thanks to neuroscience, or the study of the brain. As scientists get a better understanding of how the brain works, they are able to see the links between certain chemicals in the brain and crime. Criminological theories have a long history, but biological theories of crime are rather new. They can be traced back to the work of Cesare Lombroso, an Italian criminologist who was most influential in the late 1800s and early 1900s. When Lombroso entered the field of criminology, most of his colleagues focused almost exclusively on the legal aspects of crime. They wanted to discover the combination of laws that would reduce crime. Lombroso changed that forever. Instead of focusing on the law, he focused on the criminal. Lombroso thought that some people are more primitive than others - they are living relics of an earlier stage of human evolution. These primitives can be identified by their strange skulls, and they are more prone to violence. Some people took up Lombroso's theories to argue in favor of eugenics, or the elimination of certain bloodlines from the human species. During the Progressive era in America, eugenicists gave highly publicized speeches and wrote books that influenced state-level legislation. Many had a definite racialist tinge. So did the claims of Nazi eugenicists of a later period. Of course, these biological theories of criminology were disproved within several decades. However, Lombroso had a lasting impact on the field. In addition to shifting the focus from the law onto the criminal, Lombroso promoted the humane treatment of prisoners, arguing that work programs could teach them valuable skills and help them return to normal society. Today, there are two main types of the biological theory of criminality: the genetic approach, and the neuroscientific approach. Genetic Influence on Criminology Those who argue that there is a genetic influence on criminology often conduct research on twins. These twin studies are very useful because identical twins share 100% of their genes. The twin study literature does show that there might be something to the biological theory of crime. For example, if one twin commits a crime, the second twin is more likely to commit a crime, even if the twins do not live together. Geneticists have been trying to find a specific gene, or genetic sequence, that could predispose someone to criminal behavior. Some have proposed that a "warrior gene," MAOA (monoamine oxidase A.), could be linked to violent behavior. While the search is on for specific genes linked to criminal activity, one genetic factor is undeniably linked to the vast majority of violent crimes. In fact, about 75% of violent criminals share this trait. That's because 75% of violent criminals are men, endowed with Y-chromosomes. Neuroscience and Criminology Starting in the late 1900s, the biological theory of criminology got a big boost from the new field of neuroscience. Advanced research technology enabled researchers to identify structural and chemical differences in the brains of criminals and law-abiding citizens. Scientists in the field of neurocriminology often focus on looking for abnormalities in a person's brain that lead to criminal behavior. From time to time, they are asked to provide expert testimony in court cases. This practice is accompanied by some controversy. Whenever a criminologist tries to explain crime through reference to biology, they are using a biological theory. For example, it is widely accepted that the people most at risk of committing crimes are young men between the ages of 18 - 25. Crime statistics make this abundantly clear, and neuroscience confirms that the parts of the brain associated with impulse control are not fully developed until after age 25. Like all scientific theories, criminological theories are hotly debated. However, unlike physics or mathematics, criminology can have a huge influence on people's lives. That's because criminological testimony can lead to a defendant receiving a light or harsh sentence. Some argue that biological theories of crime can be used to absolve people of responsibility for their actions. In court, an eloquent attorney can argue that their defendant "couldn't help it" because of their genetic inheritance, and should be treated differently than others as a result. This has led a philosopher to sarcastically propose that men should receive lighter sentences than women because they are "genetically predisposed" to crime. However, in some cases, people with brain tumors have suddenly become violent or displayed perverse sexual behavior. When their tumors have been removed, their behavior has returned to normal. Biological theories of criminology date back to the 1800s when Cesare Lombroso made them famous. Originally, they claimed that criminal behavior was hereditary, due to the existence of "primitive" elements in some people's lineages. However, during the 1900s, both genetic and neuroscientific evidence showed that there is definitely a biological aspect to criminality. However, many people feel that biological theories of criminality absolve people of their personal responsibility for a crime. In twin studies, geneticists have found that there seem to be some genetic influences at play in criminal behavior. For example, if one twin commits a crime, the second twin is more likely to commit a crime. Similarly, work in neurocriminology has established a link between certain brain structures and chemicals, and criminal behavior. Though some theories remain controversial, one thing is clear: men are far more likely to commit violent crimes than women. This indicates that there must be some link between the Y-chromosome and violent criminality. Laura is really interested in what makes people different from each other. She has noticed, for example, that some people are really tall and others really short. Some people are really outgoing, and others are more shy. And she's noticed that some people end up committing crimes and others obey the law. Laura wonders what makes people different from each other, and more specifically, she's recently been wondering why some people commit crimes and why others don't. Criminology is the study of crime and punishment. It tries to answer questions like, ''What makes people commit crimes?'' There's no simple answer to that question, just as there isn't an easy way to know why one person is outgoing and another is shy. But one theory of criminology stresses the biological differences between people and how that might affect their predisposition to commit crimes. Let's look closer at that theory. Laura has noticed that some people end up in the criminal justice system, while others don't. She wonders what makes them different from each other. Is it possible that, like how tall you are, some people are just destined to engage in criminal activity? Cesare Lombroso wondered the same thing in Italy in the 19th century. He was one of the founding fathers of the biological theory of criminology, which says that individuals who engage in crimes are biologically different from their peers. Today, Lombroso's theory is being explored in two major areas: genetics and neuroscience. The mapping of human DNA has brought new information and also new questions to scientists, and just as many scientists are looking for the specific gene that can cause certain diseases, some are looking for the one gene that could cause criminal activity. From twin studies, there does seem to be some sort of genetic influence. For example, some studies have shown that identical twins raised separately are more likely to both engage in criminal activity than non-twin siblings raised separately. Since identical twins share all the same DNA but other siblings only share part of their DNA, this indicates that perhaps there is a ''law-breaking gene'' somewhere in the human body, but so far, scientists have not found it. The second area that the biological theory of criminology is exploring is that of neuroscience, or the study of the brain. As brain imaging techniques become more detailed and less invasive, scientists are getting better and better at mapping the human brain and discovering differences in people's brains. So far, studies have shown that there are some structural and chemical differences in the brains of individuals who break the law when compared to the brains of individuals who obey the law. For example, one study showed that people who commit crimes have less activity in the part of the brain responsible for arousal and fear. The theory is that they feel less fear of consequences, and so, they act out in irresponsible ways. Wow! Laura thinks that the biological theory of criminology sounds pretty solid. After all, who is she to argue with scientists who are finding brain and genetic differences in people? Well, not so fast, Laura. Though there is compelling science behind the biological theory of criminology, there are some shortcomings, too. For one thing, there used to be other biological theories, which have been discredited. For example, in the late 19th century, it was common for people to believe in phrenology, or the pseudoscience that said that people's personalities could be mapped according to the shape of their head. Phrenologists believed that certain skull bumps and ridges could indicate that a person was biologically disposed to engage in criminal activity. Since then, that has been debunked, but it makes Laura wonder if the science of today might also be debunked one day. Another shortcoming of the biological theory of criminology is the fact that it does not provide causal evidence. That is, it cannot tell us if the biology causes the criminal activity or if the criminal activity causes the biological differences or if something else causes both of them. Think about it like this: We can say that individuals who may break the law have a specific biological abnormality, like less activity in the part of the brain that causes fear, but not every individual has that, and not everyone who has that symptom may break the law. So, we don't know what's causing it or why sometimes it matters and sometimes it doesn't. One final shortcoming of the biological theory of criminology is that it absolves people of responsibility for their actions. If a person commits a crime and then says, ''But it's just because my brain is wired differently'' or ''It's because I have a law-breaking gene,'' then they are not taking responsibility for their actions. This has caused a debate in the criminal justice system as some defendants argue that they should not be found guilty because their biology caused their crime. As scientists uncover more data about the influence of biology on crime, this debate will likely continue. Criminology is the study of crime and punishment. The biological theory of criminology says that individuals who commit crimes and individuals who obey the law are biologically different. Today, it is focused on two major areas: genetics, as scientists look for the specific gene that might predispose someone to crime, and neuroscience, as scientists look for brain differences between criminals and non-criminals. Though there is evidence that there are some biological differences, there are some shortcomings of the biological theory of criminology, including the fact that some biological theories, like phrenology, have been discredited. Biological research does not provide causal evidence, and the biological theory absolves people of responsibility. After completion of this lesson, you should be able to: - Describe the biological theory of criminology - Understand the two major areas of biological study that use this theory - Summarize some of the evidence that supports this theory - Identify the shortcomings of the theory Register to view this lesson Unlock Your Education See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.com Become a Study.com member and start learning now. Become a MemberAlready a member? Log In Resources created by teachers for teachers I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. It’s like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. I feel like it’s a lifeline. The main idea is that crime has a biological basis. This may be genetic, or it could have to do with the age of the criminal. One example would be the theory that men between the ages of 18 and 25 are more prone to violence because of the stage of their brain development. This explains crime through reference to biology. Criminal JusticeCriminal Justice 101: Intro to Criminal Justice Test PrepGACE Political Science (532) Study Guide and Test Prep Criminal JusticeCriminal Justice 104: Introduction to Criminology Criminal JusticeCriminal Justice 305: The Juvenile Justice System Test PrepDSST Criminal Justice Study Guide and Test Prep

https://study.com/academy/lesson/biological-theories-of-crime-overview-features.html#lesson

Family

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low sperm count By Sola Ogundipe The Japanese have done it again! For the first time in human history,they have successfully utilized sperm cells created with stem-cell techniques to fertilize eggs and produce live, normal offspring. They used embryonic stem cells of mice to make primordial germ cells,which are the precursors for sperm cells. Scientists have for ages tried to create sperm by using stem cells in earlier in-vitro studies using mice and human cells, but up until now they haven’t been successful. The breakthrough research by the Asian scientists, led by Professor Mitinori Saitou from the Kyoto University, is published as an abstract in the journal Cell,, entitled: “Reconstitution of the Mouse Germ Cell Specification Pathway in Culture by Pluripotent Stem Cells”. They then transplanted them into the testicles of infertile mice, after which the cells produced normal-looking sperm. The mature sperm cells were used to fertilize eggs and produced healthy, fertile offspring. These findings will encourage further research into the process of how primordial germ cells develop, something that has been difficult to investigate because these cells don’t grow in vitro. Whether future findings eventually will lead to new discoveries in human fertility remains a question. Human and mouse embryonic stem cells have different properties and any research of this kind with human stem cells will of course become an ethical issue as well. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/03/japanese-scientists-create-artificial-sperms-from-stem-cells/

Health

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When billionaire media producer Oprah Winfrey took a DNA test for the PBS show African American Lives a few years back, she learned that her DNA had three exact matches — with the Kpelle people, who lived in western Africa in what’s now Liberia; the Bamileke people in Cameroon; and a Bantu-speaking tribe in Zambia. Like many African Americans whose genealogy is difficult to trace beyond slavery, Oprah knew little about her African ancestry. She was born in Mississippi and on a previous African American Lives program, had learned that an ancestor started a school for black children after the Civil War (hearing this brought her to tears). Tracing Oprah’s African Roots Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Harvard professor and current host of Finding Your Roots, has written about why Oprah’s DNA shows such diversity within Africa. In his book Finding Oprah’s Roots: Finding Yours, he points out that over the millennia of Africa’s history, tribes migrated across the continent or were taken captive in wars; in other words, there was a lot of movement, as happens with all peoples. Oprah’s links to Zambia are most likely part of the Bantu migrations, he says, when a group of Bantu-speaking Africans long ago migrated out of southern Cameroon and peopled huge sections of central and southern Africa. Combining information from Oprah’s DNA matches (both in Liberia and among the Gullah people off the coast of South Carolina) with what’s known about the history of American slavery suggests that the first slave in her ancestry was likely a woman from West Africa. Between 1801 and 1810, about 41,000 slaves came into the U.S. through the port at Charleston, South Carolina, many of them from West Africa. Before taking the DNA test, Oprah said she didn’t believe she had any European or Native American ancestors. Her test results showed her to be correct about the European ancestry (she had 0 percent), but wrong about the Native American part (8 percent). She also learned she was 3 percent East Asian. “I’ve got to say, when it happened to me, it was absolutely empowering to know the journey of my entire family,” Oprah said. DNA Testing to Trace African Ancestry DNA testing has taken some amazing leaps forward since Oprah took her test. Now, the most popular tests for family history are autosomal tests, like AncestryDNA, which are tools both women and men can use to compare their DNA with others around the world and uncover tantalizing clues about the people who came before them and their journeys. This information, together with historical data found at Ancestry, can be a powerful tool to help break through difficult genealogical “brick walls.” Discover more about your story with DNA.

https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/the-surprising-facts-oprah-winfrey-learned-about-her-dna/?theme=ancestry-2016What

Culture

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The Palm Islands are artificial peninsulas constructed of sand dredged from the bottom of the Persian Gulf by the Belgian company Jan De Nul and the Dutch company Van Oord. The sand is sprayed by the dredging ships, which are guided by DGPS, onto the required area in a process known as rain-bowing because of the arcs in the air when the sand is sprayed. The outer edge of each Palm's encircling crescent is a large rock breakwater. The breakwater of the Palm Jumeirah has over seven million tons of rock. Each rock was placed individually by a crane, signed off by a diver and given a GPS coordinate. The Jan De Nul Group started working on the Palm Jebel Ali in 2002 and had finished by the end of 2006. The reclamation project for the Palm Jebel Ali includes the creation of a four-kilometre-long peninsula, protected by a 200-metre-wide, seventeen-kilometre long circular breakwater. 210,000,000 m3 of rock, sand and limestone were reclaimed (partly originating from the Jebel Ali Entrance Channel dredging works). There are approximately 10,000,000 cubic metres of rocks in the slope protection works. a very interesting movie! finished watching a National Geographic program on the making of the Palms Island and could not resist sharing my thoughts both on the misleading program and this very ugly, ambitious and environmentally damaging project. By making of the palms Island the DUbai authorities with their engineers and collaborators may have put this artificial marsh land on the map of the world temporarily (since sand erodes), but what amazes me is the fact that they are insisting on changing the historical name of the Golf which hosts this drowning Island! Just to educate National Geographic program and the Dubai authorities, the name of the Golf is PERSIAN GOLF and not Arabian Golf. Please check the old maps of the world you must have some copies, when Persia was appreciated with great leaders, (remember leaders come and go and facts and reality do not erode they are permanent, only sand in such conditions erode!!) please check your maps and see that it has Always been called THE PERSIAN GOLF that is the reality. I wonder if they have a real sewer system for this development? They use "Honey Bucket" trucks on the adjacent masssive buildings. Dubai City Planners don't believe in proper sewer systems. Remember that massive Cholera Epidemics started in Europe in the Middle Ages and in 19th century London, from contaminated water systems. It really is just a matter of time before disease results from untreated sewer effluent. I don't know how well educated PEng's can sign off on these projects. They pinch their noses and deposit their pay cheques in a Dubai Bank! this project, and Dubai's development as a whole, is arrogant and unnatural. i like that this mainstream doc mentioned the depletion of the oil reserves, that is an issue we will all be hearing about in the next few years. Dubai's little prince squandered the wealth from his people's natural resources to build an entire city on a western civilization model that has no business being in that damn desert. its like las vegas except no great dam for power. they could have invested that wealth into developing a technology for food production and harvesting energy and been innovative for the whole world and especially take care of the people of that region. that f*ing brand new city doesn't even run on solar. what idiocy. in terms of engineering yes it is impressive. but not worth it at a time like this. this project, and Dubai's development as a whole, is arrogant and unnatural. i like that this mainstream doc mentioned the depletion of the oil reserves, that is an issue we will all be hearing about in the next few years. Dubai's little prince squandered the wealth from his people's natural resources to build an entire city on a western civilization model that has no business being in that damn desert. its like las vegas except no great dam for power. they could have invested that wealth into developing a technology for food production and harvesting energy and been innovative for the whole world and especially take care of the people of that region. that ******* brand new city doesnt even run on solar. what idiocy. in terms of engineering yes it is impressive. but not worth it at a time like this. cheesy drama doc T-A-C-K-Y... why do all these up-and-coming nations hold Las Vegas up as a model of "style" when it's basically just theme park veneer. Like it or not they are emulating a cliché of America. China is doing the same thing.. and has anyone seen Mecca lately!? Gag... However enormous engineering effort it can be i just think this project isn't right in its core. It's too much artificial and lacking true beauty if the bottomline to be. This is like somebody dying her hair to yellow pretending like a real blonde. Yes she can always dye it again when it fades away as in the maintanence scheme of palm islands but it wont just make it good as true natural blonde look however it was built and by whom it was built isnt the issue, the issue is when the hypocrites come to Dubai they will definitely enjoy every sec the spend on that island partying and drinking till the sun comes up, and they will surely forget about all the poor payed laborers when doing that. i love Dubai and we do appreciate the efforts of the laborers. The gov. is doing all it can to enhance the living conditions and salary's of the laborers! this programme is amongst the most annoying i have ever watched my word of the day is oxymoron. Nothing to do with . . . . . ah well. What a world. I was payed over a grand a week working on this. Built by the rich for the rich with labour supplied by the working poor paid for with borrowed money. As such a monument to greed, arrogance and unbridled pride and a waist of human creativity and ingenuity. In almost all religions pride is a vice, humility is the virtue. Beautiful! It will probably wash away though. I don't understand why they built everything on sand. They should have build it on concrete and covered that with sand. the phrase 'more money than sense' comes to mind. And when the oil runs out worldwide, we'll all see what a ridiculous waste of time this was. Dubai and S'pore outsource all their construction labor to cheaper labor from 3rd world country. Hence, things can be built cheaper and faster and the ultimate winner is the rich developer. It is not totally correct that S'poreans are shunning hard-labor related jobs. In western countries, there are union restrictions, minimum wages and quotas on foreign labor and a construction worker get a decent pay at the end of the month. With unrestricted labor import and minimum wage controls, a construction worker may get US$300-500 at best. No S'poreans will get into construction labor for that salary. Pay them a decent salary just as the Western world does and I'm sure there'll be takers for the job. Of course, that jacks up labor cost and no employer will do it voluntarily. With the government turning a blind eye to minimum wages and labor quota, soon, you'll see skilled workers, technicians and engineers disappearing from the S'pore construction industry as well. No doubt an incredible engineering wonder, but I don't think it can guarantee a safe income as tourism fluctuates upon the economy of nations or the global situation. I know in the U.K,Greece and other EU nations, people ae spending more time at home as jobs and income decrease due to national debt to the IMF. The only real way to prosper is to erradicate interest and world debt. African nations never recovered from misery until some of their debt was written off. I do agree also that more should be done to help the poor and those suffering at the hands of corrupt individuals. @ Tyler Durden A few things...I have lived and worked here in Abu Dhabi for over six years and a few facts about Dubai for you. They have hardly any oil in Dubai as compared to AD. Most of Dubai's money comes from investments, which, by the way, are losing considerably. AD just lent them $25M last year. And they keep spending like there is no tomorrow. All of those high-rise buildings are virtually empty. Rent has decreased in some cases >50%. One mistake I noticed at the beginning of the video, the narrator mentioned this was the Arabian Gulf. It is in the Persian Gulf. Anyway, Thanks for listening, @ Tyler Durden I'm Singaporean and if you're referring to the fact that the bulk of our country's construction workers are from other countries such as Bangladesh and China and there are an increasing number of service positions being taken up by people from other countries, you've got that right. Yes, one of the reasons is that they're cheaper labour. However, the primary reason why Singapore has to outsource it's labour is due to the fact that no one in Singapore is keen on doing manual labour. Our country's emphasis on education over the past few decades have led recent generations to become extremely well educated, and thus most Singaporeans completely reject the idea of working as construction workers or maids etc. It is regarded as one of the "lower" jobs. Though I believe no job is less worthy of doing than another, many of us would prefer to do jobs that are "comfortable" (no sweating under the sun etc) and pays better. So if you are arguing the case that Singaporeans are being left stranded without jobs due to the big scale outsourcing of labour, then the facts are probably rather untrue or inaccurate. In contrast with the Dubai issue, the outsourcing of labour is probably due to us being too educated as compared to the people of Dubai's lack of education. We have too many job opportunities/choices to choose from and doing manual labour would probably be last on the list. We are becoming increasingly affluent and our expectations of our standards of living etc have soared, and our government and the older generations lament that we can and will never truly understand the hardships and obstacles they have faced trying to build this country because we have everything. I mean, even primary school kids have expensive handphones and laptops now! Your accent seems to reveal that maybe you live in the Kingdom yourself ?, I understand what the projects and construction are sold as and how they are advertised to the people. The fact is that these projects benefit only those who can afford them starting at 1.5 million and up you have a hard time convincing me this benefits the masses. The tourist industry it creates does subsidize some of the oil revenue, true. But really without the oil non of the other people going there can afford to play and throw around the money they do so it wouldn't matter anyway. Once the oil is gone tell me who can afford to Fly to Abu Dubai? He could be building sustainable infrastructure for the people and sending them all to universities with the oil money, instead of committing the next generation to work in the service industry as most will. I have bad news for the people of Abu Dubai, if they can outsource the service they will do that as well and the locals will be jobless. Historically these "Princes" have lived lavish lives with private jets, hundreds of cars huge mansions and mega yaht's, their concern for the people ends there. If you don't serve them you are useless to them. I have see Singapore outsource it's labor force tremendously and while an economic success the native Singaporeans have been on the decline. The same is true for Bahrain, if you believe them when they tell you to "just go along with it" and let them keep stringing you along forever the only "shock" you're in store for is the one you made yourself. the prince is trying to help his people and soon to be people(unborn)escape the shock if oil run out in the middle east. i dont think thats greedy. his thinking about his people. also what his doing is artistic too. this will surely be appriciated by the people of the future.. A must see for any construction buff. More mega construction / machine docs would be nice here. Amazing what money can build nowadays. why cant these richer then rich people get together to feed and clothe and get clean water to the poorer of they're countries?..then building something so useless You got it. @Skye it could never have been built in the US because you couldn't have gotten away with paying people $600 to $800/month for manaul labor. People who use oil and gasoline have no idea who is benifiting financially in the transaction and the abuse and greed they possess to create the things of marvel you see here. It should be enough to drive people to get the most fuel efficient vehicle they can buy and conserve as much as possible. But they won't. And the peoples of the gulf region will keep on raking it in and paying third worlders to do the work for a basic living wage so you can marvel more at the achievements they get others to create with their money to be built on their soil. To follow....they will hire expats to develop the technology that pushes oil out of the picture....why? because they will have all the money in the world to do so. It goes even deeper. Do you think an expat teacher in a gulf country can fail a child for not learning the curiculum? they can but they will lose their job. So is that a culture the is bringing up the brightest? The culture is about as messed up as it gets and wealth and greed and foolishness on the consumption side of oil is what is making it all happen. Abu Dhabi is the place with the oil money. Dubai was built on debt as we have seen in the past year. And also when the first big rain storm came after the Palm was built guess what? The houses flooded. So it isn't all that you see. @ tyler durden there are debate's going on about what type of tech the Egyptians were actually using because they had the Baghdad battery, its also said when people spent to much time near the ark of the Covent there hair would fall out and they would get sick and burnt skin that sounds like radiation to me possible nuclear technology ?. Its also said they knew about scalar tech the stuff tesla was messing with. Last time I was in Dubai this hadn't been completed, it's interesting to see how it eventually developed. I remember feeling sorry for all those imported workers, I would see in the buses and trucks especially after seeing their living conditions. There was an eye opener. The separation between rich and poor was never more apparent. I guess it's the way of all huge constructions like this. It makes me think about how the Egyptians built what they did, lacking all our modern tech and engineering knowledge. The Crown Prince sure has done alot to bring Dubai out of the sand, I commend his achievement but cannot overlook his greed. I hope in the future our money and engineering genius is put towards benefitting the masses and not just the select few who can afford to live in this way. Without putting too much thought into it I agree with you Skye-hook. At the risk of being yelled at, I will state my true feelings about this subject & the video. Very good documentary! Thorough , interesting, very professionally done. I am not only impressed, I feel the whole world benefits from something this magnificent being built. It's similar to the pyramids in that way. Something monumental built by man. A major achievement! A thing never attempted before, done well, by engineers who really put their all into it. A thing not just of huge proportions done well, but a thing of elegant beauty. I wish it a wonderful future. Am I jealous that it's not in my country, the USA? Not at all. I'm just glad it exists. I wouldn't ever want to be on the USA island in The World islands there. Could be a target someday. But it's a wonderful thing, & I wish it well. I wonder how long it will survive. It would be nice if it exists thousands of years. *Thanks for putting this on here, Vlatko. I liked the 'soundtrack' :)))

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/richest-people-middle-east/

Politics

en

After eight years spent studying a 1.8-million-year-old skull uncovered in the Republic of Georgia, scientists have made a discovery that may rewrite the evolutionary history of our human genus Homo. It would be a simpler story with fewer ancestral species. Early, diverse fossils — those currently recognized as coming from distinct species like Homo habilis, Homo erectus and others — may actually represent variation among members of a single, evolving lineage. In other words, just as people look different from one another today, so did early hominids look different from one another, and the dissimilarity of the bones they left behind may have fooled scientists into thinking they came from different species. This was the conclusion reached by an international team of scientists led by David Lordkipanidze, a paleoanthropologist at the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi, as reported Thursday in the journal Science. The key to this revelation was a cranium excavated in 2005 and known simply as Skull 5, which scientists described as “the world’s first completely preserved adult hominid skull” of such antiquity. Unlike other Homo fossils, it had a number of primitive features: a long, apelike face, large teeth and a tiny braincase, about one-third the size of that of a modern human being. This confirmed that, contrary to some conjecture, early hominids did not need big brains to make their way out of Africa.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/science/fossil-skull-may-rewrite-humans-evolutionary-story.html?WT.z_sma=SC_SFS_20131017&adxnnl=1&smid=fb-nytimes&adxnnlx=1382044233-ckn2u3Q9TMCp0a4izILvswSkull

Religion

en

Around 1640 BCE, some 70 Canaan (Black), Hebrews under the leadership of Joseph, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, entered Egypt from Canaan, fleeing from another great drought. Doris Darkwah in (The Role of Africa in the rise of Judaism) tells us that: “They were welcomed and given food and shelter by the hospitable Egyptians. They enjoyed the rights and privileges of Egyptian citizenship, some becoming high officials in the government giving up Semitic names for Egyptian ones. Joseph was in Pharaoh Kamoses cabinet as Prime Minister and took the Egyptian name of Zaphnathpaaneah. Yanhamu was a leading General under Amenophis IV (Akhnaton.) “The Great Pyramids and the Obelisk had already been completed before any Hebrew set foot in Egypt; hence the idea of their being used as slave labour on those constructions is false. Pictures found on tombs show the Hebrews to be foreigners from their clothes and beards, but also that they were not in captivity. Of course, many of them laboured side by side with the Egyptians in making bricks for the outer enclosures of temples or cities, the main building effort of the day.” Towards the end of the Hebrew's 400 years sojourn in Egypt in 1230 BCE, when they had grown in number to be a sizable percentage of the population, Moses was already over 70 years old. The Egyptologist, James Breasted in (Dawn of Conscience) points out that his name was not Hebrew as conventionally accepted, “but an Egyptian word 'Mose,' or 'Maose,' meaning child or boy-son, to which a prefix of a god's name may have been attached and lost over the years.” Ernest Jones (Birth & Death of Moses) confirms that Moses was the son of Bathia, daughter of Pharaoh Seti I, and the Pharaoh himself. In other words, Moses was an incestuous child. Doris Darkwah in (The Role of Africa in the rise of Judaism) tells us that the circumstances of Moses' birth as portrayed by the Old Testament were pure fantasy. “African myths about finding a baby in water were quite common, especially in honouring national heroes,” at the time. Obviously, Pharaoh Seti and his daughter contrived the abandoned baby in basket scenario to avoid incestuous stigma and create the opportunity to look after Moses in the palace. Sale in his book (Al Koran, P257, 1784) tells us that: “Moses was a very swarthy man.” Sir T.W. Arnold in his book (Preaching Islam, Westminster 1896) says: “According to Mohammedan tradition, Moses was a Black man.” The Bible confirms this in Exodus IV.6. Roger in (100 Amazing Facts about the Negro) tells us that Moses was a Black African. Moses received his theological education at Heliopolis. He went into the Lodge (the Mystery System) at age 7 and could not have come out until aged 47 because it required 40 years to train as a priest in all the disciplines. In fact, Moses was trained for the role of Pharaoh with all the magic and spiritual powers entailed in this. Moses then spent a few years in Ethiopia in continuation of his education as a prince of Egypt. He did not conquer Ethiopia as some Jewish film makers would want the world to believe. No king of Ethiopia accompanied Moses to Egypt as portrayed by the film. An emissary of the king accompanied Moses from the land of his ancestors back to Egypt because he was a prince and that was the tradition of the era. According to Doris Darkwah, Moses became the spokesman for the Hebrews and introduced them to “a monotheistic type of religion, which he had learned as an Egyptian from the teachings of Akhnaton as a prince and pharaoh in training for 40 years, in the Mystery System. It appears Moses first preached his adaptation of Akhnaton's religion to his people, the Egyptians, and found few followers.” He then turned to the Hebrews who were more receptive especially after Moses had killed one of his own (an Egyptian) in defence of a Hebrew. Moses became the spokesperson for the Hebrews. Moses, at about the age of 47, ran away from his father, Pharaoh Seti I, for committing murder. His brother Aaron ran away with him because he was charged with stealing from the Pharaoh's treasury. Moses met Deborah while on the run and it seems Deborah said confidently, pointing to Moses: 'that Egyptian.' There was nothing in Moses' make up to suggest he was a Hebrew. He was not wearing any special clothes nor did he have a beard. He looked like any other African Egyptian brother, Deborah was familiar with. Moses escaped to the Midianites on one of the Sanai hills for succour, protection, and witchcraft powers, against his imaginary pursuers. Midianites were Africans from Ethiopia worshipping a number of Deities or Gods, the principal one being El Elyon or what the Bible claims to be Lucifer. The Midianites' chief priest was called Jethro, a renowned spiritualist, considered to be a father of witchcraft because of his spiritual prowess and awesome cult. Moses ended up spending some 30 years in the desert with Jethro, who initiated Moses into his cult and gave Moses one of his daughters in marriage. The marriage was blessed with two children. All three, (wife, two sons) are lost to Jewish history because they did not fit into later Jewish religious politics. Some religious historians' argument that Aaron and Mariam's objection to Moses' Ethiopian wife was one of colour is wrong. There was no colour prejudice as a culture until the White man invented it at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, to launch their selfish, deceitful religion, and eventually justify their slave trade and colonization of Africans. Besides, the Jews at that time were Africans. Mariam's objection was obviously a national or tribal one, the same as exists today among some West African ethnic groups. Moses' spiritual skills, which he first learnt as a Pharaoh in training (or Prince of Egypt) was reinforced by the teachings of his father-in-law. Jethro honed Moses' witchcraft skills. Moses saw a chance to use the Midianites' cult as a political and spiritual rallying point to build his religious followership and take his revenge on Egypt for deriding his earlier religious teachings and turning him into a refugee and murder outcast on the run. Moses adopted or was adopted by one of the junior deities of the Midianites. Moses himself claimed that his Midianite deity gave his name as YHWH pronounced as Yahweh, and that El Elyon, the chief of the Midianites (Canaanites) deities was superior to Yahweh. Moses said it was El Elyon (God Most High) who divided nations (of the world) and shared them among the gods (or sons of God.) That the nation allotted by El Elyon to Yahweh (a god or junior deity or son of God) was Israel. Give ear O heavens, and I will speak and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations, ask your father and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. When El Elyon (the Most High) gave to the nations their inheritance. When he separated the sons of men he fixed the bounds of the peoples, according to the number of the sons of God. For Yahweh's portion is his people, Jacob (Israel) his allotted heritage. Moses said Yahweh introduced himself as the god of (his followers) the Hebrews. Moses could not have used capital letter 'God' for Yahweh because he knew that that was reserved for El Elyon. Seventy Jewish scholars introduced the fraud in 200 BCE while translating Hebrew into Greek. Yahweh proudly called himself a tribal god. Moses claimed that Yahweh said: “I'm the god of your fathers, the god of Abraham, the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob,” Exodus 3:6,15. Notice that god Yahweh did not say he was the 'God' of mankind or even of the Africans who in the guise of the Midianites first brought his cult into being. The Jewish scholars claimed that Yahweh regretted creating man and that He decided to wipe 'man' off the face of the earth because 'man' turned out to be wicked. A bogus claim by the Jewish scholars because Moses himself claimed that El Elyon was Yahweh's superior. Yahweh saw that the wickedness of 'man' was great on earth, and that the thought of his heart fashioned nothing but wickedness all day long. “I will rid the earth's face of man, my own creation (Gen. 6: 5-7.) I wonder who taught 'man' to be wicked. Yahweh killed Uzzah for trying to prevent the 'Ark of God' from falling down when the oxen carrying it stumbled. No sane person would kill for such a reason but gods are probably not governed by mere rationalism. “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and 'God' smote him there because he put forth his hand to the Ark and he died there besides the Ark of God,” (2 Sam 6:6-7.) Yahweh was not only prepared to dispossess others of their properties for the Hebrews, he encouraged his adopted children to indulge in stealing and other immoral acts. On the eve of the Hebrews' departure from Egypt, after failing to overwhelm the Pharaoh with a series of plagues, including the killing of every first born of men and animals, (Exodus Chapters 7-11) he ordered the Hebrews to slaughter innocent babies, old men and women, found in the captured city. Do not “spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling,” (I Sam, 15:3.) Yahweh, 'the Jewish fake creator of man,' had no fore-knowledge of things that would happen in future, nor could he foresee the consequences of his action. Often he was sorry after the event turned out to be contrary to his expectation. Yahweh could not foresee Saul disobeying him after making Saul king of Israel. “I regret having made Saul king for he has turned away from me and has not carried out my order,” (I Sam 15: 10.11.) Saul's problem was his refusal to go to the city of Amalek to destroy everybody and everything he found there, adult humans, babies, animals, etc. Yahweh was capable of all human emotions: jealousy, anger, sympathy, love, hate, mercy, but was more easily provoked than anything else even by his professed children. Yahweh was extraterrestrial humanoid. All Gods whether spelt with the capital letter 'G' or small letter 'g' are ex-humans. They are dead humans or ancestors and Africans created all of them. The Midianites created Yahweh and Yahweh's physical, spiritual, or mythical interaction with Moses is supposed to have happened well before 1230 BCE. Moses saw Yahweh's back because Yahweh covered Moses' face with his hand while passing. “I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by, then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen,“ (Exodus 33: 22-23.) But Moses had seen Yahweh's face earlier on in (Exodus 33: 11) ….And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend. The Lord came to visit Abraham and ate in his house. Isaiah saw the Lord in his temple. Gideon, Ezekiel, Samson's parents, Daniel, all saw the Lord. Yahweh wrestled with Jacob (Gen. 32: 21) and Jacob nearly defeated him until he managed to remove a bone to wrench Jacob's hip. Some God? Yahweh himself said: “if there is a prophet among you, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in dark speech, and he beholds the form of Yahweh….” (Numbers 12:5-8 RSV.) Even with prophets, I Yahweh communicate by visions and dreams. But that is not how I communicate with my servant Moses. He is entrusted with my entire house. I speak to him face to face, directly and not in riddles! He sees Yahweh as he is….. (New Living Translation.) It is this Moses who spoke to Yahweh face to face and saw Yahweh as he is, that revealed that El Elyon, the chief of the Canaanite's gods, was God Most High and Yahweh's superior. Moses was visiting Yahweh in a space craft. The Bible tells us: “God descended on the Mount Sanai with thunders and lightings, the mountain quaked.” One time when Moses stayed away for too long, Hebrews equated Yahweh's idol to a Golden Calf. Hebrews gave Satan (Yahweh) to the world to worship. According to Yemi Ogunsola in the Guardian newspaper, Nigeria, January 4, 2009, the Jewish god Yahweh is not God Almighty but a deity inferior to God El Elyon. “It was not God who chose the Jews as his own people; it was god Yahweh, a deity. It was not God who unjustly promised other peoples lands (Palestine/Canaan) to the Israelites; it was Yahweh. It was not God who led the Israelites in the invasion and occupation of those 'promised' lands; it was Yahweh. It was not God who ordered the wholesale slaughter of men, women and children of Palestine, Canaan; it was Yahweh.” Moses invoked the energy of Yahweh (i) to fight his father, (ii) to help his followers get out of Egypt and (iii) to craft kabbalism. (i) Moses fought his father, Pharaoh Seti I of Egypt, with witchcraft. Moses' kabbalism (or witchcraft skill) was put into effect in the name of Yahweh. Yahweh sent Black Egypt a plague of blood. “…He struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. The fish in the Nile died and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt,” Exodus 7:20,21. Then he sent plagues of frogs, Exodus 8:6; gnats, Exodus 8:16; swarms of flies… 'I will make a distinction between my people and your people,' Yahweh said, Exodus 8:22,24; '…. livestock on the field……….your horses and donkeys and camels and cattle, sheep and goat' (whatever the animals did to upset this tribal God) 'I will make a distinction……..so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.' Exodus 9:4. Yahweh plagued Africans with boils … that were on them and on all the Egyptians, Exodus 9:10. “………by now I could have struck you with a plague that would wipe you off the earth……to show you my power… (I wonder if the 'Universal' God needed to boost about showing his power.) …….by this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt.” Exodus 9:13-19. So Yahweh sent the plagues of locust, Exodus 10:13; of darkness, Exodus 10:21 and finally of firstborn, Exodus 11:5. The true 'Universal' God of Creation would not have been so vindictive and merciless against his own creation. (ii) Moses leads the Hebrews out of Egypt to another land taken from Africans. The myth about the parting of waters to facilitate a groups' escape is distorted from some ancient African myths and writing. The African Sun god Bacchus had a magic rod, which could change into a snake and could be used to draw water from a rock as well. He crossed the Red Sea without getting wet, and divided the waters of the rivers Orontes and Hydaspus by the touch of his rod and crossed both dry-footed. According to Raphael Petal in his book, Tents of Jacob: “The Biblical myth served two basic functions: to validate the idea of the Hebrews having the right to possess the land of Israel. The other was to show that whatever adversities (i.e. famine, quarrels between brothers, involuntary servitude) forced them to leave the land of Canaan or Palestine to live in a land of dispersion, such as Egypt or Babylon, they longed to return to the 'Promised land' and usually did.'' Yahweh loves his adopters. He claimed to hate the Amorites, Philistines, Canaanites, Jebusites, (all Blacks) and Hittites (Whites) and the rest of mankind and threatened to wipe them off the face of the earth so as to give their land to his children, the Israelites. Yahweh hated all of mankind but the Israelites. The Jews were not a tribe. They were only held together by the promise of inheriting their own land and an adapted Egyptian religion. To be an Israelite, you have to be a Jew. It is a religion and until Hitler's pogrom against them, Israelites were not an ethnic or political group. Hitler turned them into a tribe. The Exodus story is, therefore, not about race. The curse by the Hebrew god Yahweh arose principally from Noah and his three sons' fictional myth. Africans are the ancestors of mankind. Human origin is Black; therefore, the White mythical Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, could only have been Black. Ham turned White, as did all the cursed in the Bible: Gahazi, Eljahas, Greedy servants: Kings 11: 5, 27) when he uncovered and sodomized his father (Genesis 9: 22, 24.) Hams' White children still revel in homosexuality today. By the way, Noah's flood did not disrupt civilization, and the walls of Jerico fell long before the Israelites got there. In any case, Israelites were Black at the time. Tacitus the Roman historian of 90 CE says that the Romans of his day popularly believed that the Jews who then abounded in Europe, came from Egypt, the land of the Blacks. The Bible classes the Ethiopians and the Jews together: “Are ye not as the children of Ethiopia unto me, O children of Israel, saith the Lord.” Chaldea, the land in which the Jews originated, was also Black land. Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldees (Gen. 11, 31.) Godfrey Higgins confirms in his book that the Chaldees at that point in history were Negroes. The Israelites were running away from African Egypt to an African fringe country, Palestine, and imagined that the Egyptians they were wishing dead were pursuing them. Such stories are pure fantasies, which all disadvantaged people indulge in to try to overcome, bear, minimize psychological trauma, or ameliorate sufferings and pains of the moment. It is a temporary mental blocking out of experience or experiences mechanism. They are mere escape valves or transient mental respite. Indulging in daydream is the harmless opium of the weak and oppressed against the strong. Several future myths are being spawned right now, around the world, by for example, the victims of racism wishing God to come down a ladder from heaven to intervene on their behalf by dealing ruthlessly with the architects and perpetrators of racism. Then transport them (the victims) to some make-believe world of bliss or paradise without racism or pains. In other words, to the 'Promised Land.' This is what prayers are about. Moses being an Egyptian priest, who rebelled against the established religion of his people, was not missed when he finally emigrated with his followers from Egypt through the Sanai desert in 1230 BCE. The period experienced a great deal of migrations in and out of Egypt anyway. The Bible says that 600,000 men left with Moses, which according to Haushoffer meant a total of 3,154,000 men, women and children, all Black, from being Canaanites and crossbreeding with African Egyptians. To an offence by the Hebrews in the wilderness, Yahweh threatened: “Let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, (Exodus 32:10.) Moses begged him not to because Egypt would use it to mock him. He changed his mind and allowed peace to reign until his children were discouraged by the report of the spies sent to survey the land promised them. Yahweh threatened again to kill all the Hebrews in the wilderness. Moses again persuaded him against the action, like one would do to a five-year-old child. “Now if thou does kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard thy name will say, because the Lord was unable to bring this people into the land he swore to give to them, therefore, he has slain them in the wilderness. (Numbers 14:15.) When Moses himself annoyed Yahweh by striking the rock two times rather than speak to get water as Yahweh had instructed, there was no one to intervene for Moses this time. Yahweh vowed he would only allow Moses to see the 'Promised Land' with his eyes from a distance and not to enter it. People saw him die but could not account for his body. After Yahweh killed Moses and apparently appropriated his body for his extraterrestrial race experiments, General Joshua took charge and led the Exodus from about 1220 BCE. Only 2 original Egyptian Jews out of the over 3 million that left Egypt with Moses arrived in 1190 BCE, with the Jews born en-route, to the 'Promised land,' Palestine. Joshua divided the land among the 12 tribes of Israel. Palestine was named after the former conquerors of the land, Philistines. Chiekh Anta Diop argues in (The African origin of Civilization) that the cynical, mercantile spirit, which constitutes the foundation of (Genesis Exodus) of the Bible, “is due to the conditions in which the Jewish people were placed from the start. Forming clusters of stateless persons since their dispersion, they have constantly experienced a double anxiety, that of assuring their material existence, often in hostile surroundings and the fear resulting from obsession with periodic pogroms. In the relatively recent past, in the Eurasian steppes, physical conditions had allowed for no illusion, no lethargy, and if man failed to create a marvelous civilization there, it was because the environment was too hostile. It was a political and social condition that allowed the Jews no intellectual let-up. They did not begin to count in history, however, until David and Solomon, or the beginning of the first millennium, the epoch of the Queen of Sheba. Egyptian civilization was already several millennia old, a fortiori Nubian-Sudanese civilization.” Jerusalem became capital of Israel in 1000 BCE, and David emerged as king. Where Moses was a giant, larger than life and beyond lust, David was ruthless. He was lust itself, who whored, raped, lied and cheated. Songs of Solomon, Chapter 1, Verses 5 and 6, reads: “Ye daughters of Canaan look not upon me because I am Black, because I'm beautiful. My mother put me in the vineyard, but my sister, she kept indoors.” Whatever forced the above confession, of course, Canaanites were Black. Solomon began building his temple called (Tempum Dei) in Jerusalem in 961 BCE. Solomon divided the Hebrews into ten tribes of Israel and 13 tribes of Judas. He was a good but minor leader with a big heart and robust talents for business. He collaborated with the merchants of Tyre to build merchant marines that brought Palestine a great deal of prosperity from their foreign market exploits. His reign was the most significant in Hebrew's history until recent times. He never ruled the world as the Jews would want us believe. He was just a successful businessman who ruled a small strip of desert land. Queen of Sheba married Solomon, from which union sprang Prince Menelik, the Lion of Judah and the forebear of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. The Assyrians over ran the Hebrew nation in 721 BCE. Ten tribes of Israel were heard no more, giving rise to the saying, the lost tribes of Israel. Taharqa, the youngest son of Pharaoh Piankhi, at the head of the Egyptian army, marched into Palestine and Asia and triumphed against the Assyrian forces of Sennacherib. Babylonian Emperor, Nebuchadnezzar, captured Jerusalem in 586 BCE, and transferred the Jewish population to Babylon. This is known in Jewish history as the period of captivity and it lasted for 70 years. Cyrus the Persian leader, sacked Babylon in 538 BCE, and expanded his empire rapidly over most of the Middle East. Cyrus permitted the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem, but instead they spread largely into countries of the Middle East and North Africa. (iii) Crafting of the Jewish Kabbalah. Like all the other manipulations in the Bible, Moses skillfully modified Akhnaton's monotheism to fit the Hebrew people by pledging the Hebrews to one deity or god alone. According to Doris Darkwah, “after Moses gave the Hebrew people an African religion; he then created a history of his followers in retrospect, drawing more on Egyptian and Babylonian myths than from any sort of fact. He had Abraham predicting events he could not have possibly known, such as the 400-years stay in Egypt… Finally, Moses gave the Hebrews credit for African customs, some quite ancient. One classic example was the adoption of the rite of circumcision, an Egyptian custom, thousands of years old by Moses' day. Bodies of Egyptian mummies found in recent times in what were prehistoric cemeteries gave evidence of such a custom. In addition, the actual operation was depicted in a drawing found on an Egyptian tomb, which existed between 2700-2800 BCE at Memphis.” Some of the many laws that the indigenous Africans had written and obeyed thousands of years before Abraham entered Egypt became the Decalogue or Ten Commandments. (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5.) Moses adopted his Ten Commandments from the ancient 147 Egyptian laws called the “Negative Confessions,” and lied that God handed the laws down to him on Mount Sanai after the Exodus, (Exodus XX: 1-17.) Why has God stopped handing down Commandments since Moses? Or is his God, like our Osiris who was human, dead too? Other African customs borrowed by the Hebrews include, according to Doris Darkwah: “transference of sins to a scapegoat, usually an animal; not eating pig, considering it unclean, but on the other hand using it in religious rites, implying some sanctity of the animal; the Passover Feast which was really an old African custom, connected with the celebration of the Spring Equinox, and passing over of the Sun from South to North of the equator; libations or sacrificial drinking such as in the Sabbath Evening Service by the Rabbi, which is a traditional African practice dating back, thousands of years. In African ceremonies, it marks the start and completion of certain rituals; the sacrifice of the 'first male lamb' was an ancient African ceremonial tradition (particularly in Egypt) for 'cleansing the soul,' thousands of years before Moses was born.” The Romans lied against the Jews Between 64–66 CE, the Romans terrorized the Jews to no end, apparently because of their mercantilist skills. The Romans accused them of killing Jesus Christ, to launch anti-Semitism sentiments and hatred against the Jews globally. The Jews, under the name of 'zealots,' revolted over what they described as the tyranny of the Romans. The Jews could not have killed Jesus Christ whom they have no record of his existence. Besides, Pontius Pilate, the Roman Procurator and his boss Lucius Aelius Sejanus, the Prefect of the Praetorian Guard, where the Roman Imperial officials in Judea, during the confused dates of between 26 CE and 36 CE, of the crucifixion. No one was sure when or how it took place, and it could not have happened without the sanction of the Roman Imperial Guard. If the Roman Guards ordered the supposed crucifixion, why were they holding the Jews responsible? It was obviously a hoax to create the excuse to give the Jews a bad name. In 70 CE, Emperor Titus (39 -81 CE) crushed the zealots and destroyed their sacred Mount Moriah, triggering the second Exodus of the Jews from their homeland. In 135 CE, the Romans suppressed the Jewish Bar-Cochba's revolt, causing another Jewish dispersion, and the beginning of what is known as Diaspora Jews. The Jews entered Europe in appreciable numbers, particularly Spain and Portugal, in the first century CE. They were expelled from England in 1290 CE for anti-Semitic reasons. Spain expelled them for the same reasons on August 2, 1492, and Portugal did likewise in 1497 CE. After their expulsion from Spain and Portugal, they immigrated in large numbers to Holland. Michael Bradley (Echoes of Ancient Truth) provides considerable evidence about the Jewish and, therefore, religious links with Columbus' 'discovery' of the 'New World.' Prof. Alvin Boyd Kuhn in (Who is this King of Glory?) argues that: Columbus was very likely born of a heretical family. To start with, Bradley suspects that there were two Columbus,' one a master pirate of French extraction (which probably explains the paucity of information about Columbus' early life) who transformed into the one we know in history. Bradley says that the Columbus we know very likely had Jewish background. Bradley tells us that the purpose of Columbus' voyage to the 'New World' was not just in pursuit of gold but also to found a New Jerusalem. That, European Jews financed Columbus' voyage to the 'New World,' to allow their persecuted Jewish population in Europe, disguising as Catholics, find a new home where they could practice their true religion. Bradley names the sponsors of Columbus: “as things turned out, Columbus didn't need Isabella's jewels because he'd already obtained the backing of four Spanish financial moguls: Luis de Santangel, Alonso de Harana, Alonso de Carvajal and Diego de Harang. All of these men were “Conversos,” former Jews, who had supposedly and voluntarily accepted the Roman Catholic faith.” Bradley also tells us about the roots of religious conflicts in medieval Europe, the confusing personality of Jesus Christ, and says: “Godfroi de Bouillon wanted to create a New Jerusalem in the Holy Land where the three great faiths of the West could be reconciled. He failed, but this sort of crusade is what apparently motivated Christopher Columbus and his supporters and financial backers. His voyage may have been a crusade to establish a 'New Jerusalem,' in a 'New World' and, I think, this is the light in which we should view his motivations. It is also a perspective and a light that will permit some insight into the anomalous facts and unlikely coincidences of his life. He seems to have been a part of an ancient… conspiracy to create a world of religious toleration between Jew, Christian and Moslem. A New Jerusalem. That I think was Columbus' concept of a crusade, and the only worth while kind of crusade.” In the last chapter of Michael Bradley's book he says: “In 1506 CE, the Bishop of Puerto Rico complained to their Majesties and the Vatican that ships were bringing “mostly Jews” as colonists. Four years later, in 1510 CE, the Bishop of Cuba made exactly the same complaint to the same authorities; the ships brought mostly Jews and he adds, “secret heretics.” The official Royal census for 1545 CE, noted that twenty-five percent of Mexico City's population was admitted and openly practicing Jews; and this figure did not include “secret Jews,” heretics, converses, or secret Muslims. If this was truly the case, then the majority of Mexico City's population must have been non-Catholic. This seems to have been true because, in 1527 CE, Francisco Fernandez de Castillo wrote: “there are more Jews than Catholics in Mexico City.” Apart from the large importation of Jews, Europe dumped a massive portion of its undesirable elements in the Americas and the Caribbean Islands. A significant number of the crew of the three vessels of Christopher Columbus, for instance, were criminals let out of jails because it was difficult to recruit others for the dangerous journey. Most colonizers of the 'New World' and Africa were, in fact, failures in Europe, i.e., convicts, criminals, the unemployed, unemployable, and the unproductive, let loose as explorers, missionaries, slave traders and catchers. It is the character and nature of these invaders, more than anything else that heightened their vicious and criminal impact on the unsuspecting 'New World' and Africa. In Holland, many Jews joined with others to form the Dutch West Indies Company on June 3, 1621, to exploit the “New World,” to establish their first settlement in New Amsterdam, in 1654 CE. Other settlements followed rapidly to expand the frontiers of capitalism to their benefit and that of the West. Developing at the same time with their thrusts into the New World was their search for African slaves and land to exploit. They acquired the Dutch East Indian Company just as its first ship was to sail to South Africa, and constituted a large proportion of that first and later groups of settlers that occupied the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 CE. They formed small Jewish settlements in Capetown and other parts of South Africa in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries CE. In 1828 CE, Chaka the king of Zulu granted Nathaniel Isaacs the use of a large track of land for himself and the Jewish people. Then along with some Dutch settlers, calling themselves Afrikaners, they forcefully took over the rest of South Africa and imposed apartheid, another name for Zionism, on the Black owners of South Africa. With the discovery of gold and diamond in the territory, a business they absolutely controlled along with two or three other Western owned companies, they became very prosperous. Today, although only about a quarter of a million strong in South Africa, they control the economy through their gold and diamond cartels, and use the military know how and clout of Israel, as agents of the West, to continue to protect subtle apartheid and their investments. The Jews themselves have been through hell in the hands of the Europeans. Devil's incarnate, Adolf Hitler, as the German leader, exterminated six million Jews in cold blood in his gas chambers in Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Dachau, between 1933-35 CE, in attempt to preserve his Aryan race purity. Zionism was an idea touted by a comedian called Theodore Hertzl in his acts in Central Europe. In 1896 CE, Theodore Herzl published “Judenstaat,” in Vienna, advocating the establishment of a Jewish national homeland. Hertzl first suggested a homeland for the Jews in Guyana, but the British were not impressed, so he toyed with Kenya or Uganda, which were also under British control at the time. Then Hertzl wrote to Jan Christian Smits, requesting for a Jewish homeland in South Africa so that they can help civilize Africans. Although the Zionist movement had a choice of settling in Uganda or the Sanai Peninsula from Chamberlain, the British Colonial Secretary, on April 23, 1903, Uganda did not really count. The Jews were after the opportunity South Africa or the Peninsula offered them, to control at least one of the two major navigational routes of international trade around Africa, the Suez and the Cape, and if they got the first, to enslave their second set of people. The Balfour Agreement signed by Chaim Weitzman, an English Jew living in England, Jonah B. Wise, Stephen Wise, and others from the USA, provided an opportunity for the Jews to pull a fast one on the Arabs. The agreement formed the basis of the action of President Harry S. Truman of the USA, in 1947, which resulted in the creation of the State of Israel in Palestine. The Jewish State rapidly went into decline until it surfaced under Ben-Gurion in modern times. The Jews seem to have been taking out their pains on Africans who are, in fact, their closest relatives and ought to have been treated as their closest allies. The Jews from the beginning have had their hands in all the misfortunes of the African world. It started with the concealment of the African identity of Moses and theirs. The lies about meeting God of the universe on Mount Sanai and being the chosen people. Their fictitious curse that launched their notion of superior, inferior people; their usurpation of African beliefs and myths without giving due credit; the distortions of early history and African religion, and the fake history of their plight as a people in Egypt. They were neck-deep in the Black slavery holocaust from which they amassed huge fortunes to set themselves apart as the shrewd and wealthy Jews we know today. Despite all we have been through in the hands of the Jews, I admire them a great deal for the way they have overcome their difficulties to become masters of the world in every respect. Their religion and kabbalism helped them and Africans want to learn from them, what was lost to them, and end their own pains that have come from all quarters, and have gone on for too long. NAIWU OSAHON Hon. Khu Mkuu (Leader) World Pan-African Movement); Ameer Spiritual (Spiritual Prince) of the African race; MSc. (Salford); Dip.M.S; G.I.P.M; Dip.I.A (Liv.); D. Inst. M; G. Inst. M; G.I.W.M; A.M.N.I.M. Poet, Author of the magnum opus: 'The end of knowledge'. One of the world's leading authors of children's books; Awarded; key to the city of Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Honourary Councilmanship, Memphis City Council; Honourary Citizenship, County of Shelby; Honourary Commissionership, County of Shelby, Tennessee; and a silver shield trophy by Morehouse College, USA, for activities to unite and uplift the African race. Naiwu Osahon renowned author, philosopher of science, mystique, leader of the world Pan-African Movement. I respect you for the volume of knowledge that you possess.Most part of your article is absolutely true and I respect you for that.But I would like to say that there is quite a lot you dont know about Islam.It is one religion which gave the black man pride.The man Bilal who was honoured by the Prophet of Islam to be the first to call (Azam) people to prayer was a black man.In the Holy Quran Allah-"subhanawataalla" (which I think sounds like your superior God) talks of his reason for creating us ...

http://www.modernghana.com/news/247818/1/the-jews-lied-against-africa-to-ascend.html

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HEBREW ISRAELITE ORIGINS And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:… DEUTERONOMY 26:5. BEFORE it was Called SYRIA & Before Jacob-Israel… 4000s BC-----------2300sBC [FLOOD] -------- 2000s BC--------- Egyptian Museum; A ANCIENT SYRIAN Titled; Ancient Syrian Bedouin There happens to be a lot of history about this very subject of which I hope to share some. But this would be part of the origins of the Hebrew Israelite people. However prior to this time though, much more happened and needs to be brought out as well. In order to understand the bigger picture about the Original Syrian people and also prior to the development of the Israelite people, the more distant past to their existence needs to be understood. But because Jacob Israel married a Syrian girl, RACHEL, this would be a part of the origins of the Hebrew Israelites. However, father Israel was not technically a Syrian man himself, but he was from another Semitic origin from his male line, Arphaxad. But he and his father’s people came to be a part of this Syrian country at a time that the Syrian people became very divided based on COLORISM. This would be the reason why Israel’s grandfather Abraham was told by the Creator to separate from his father Terah. Abraham’s father Terah bonded with the Assyrian people but Abraham [ie Abram; Ab-Ram] was born in Ur of the Chaldees and identified with these people of his origins, the Sumerians, and they had become suppressed in their own native Sumerian lands in Mesopotamia. The southern parts of Syria was considered SYRIA or the BROWN or dark skinned descendants of Asshur and due to Colorism, the northern parts of Syria became known as ASSYRIA, meaning ‘WHITE SYRIA’, this division also stemmed from what occurred in the great civilization that bordered this country in the land of the Chaldeans. Based on the Bible records, the country of Syria became named after a son and descendant of Shem, named ASSHUR and his name reveals the very maternal origins of these Semitic people. Prior to this country being given to the descendants of Shem, it was the land of Canaan Ham, a son and descendant of Ham (Cham). But after about three hundred (300) years, the land was taken back from the Canaanites by Noah and given to his son Shem who received the blessing of the priesthood ahead of his elder brother, Japheth. Yes, Noah also took the blessing of JapHeth as the High Priest and gave it to his second born son, Shem at an earlier time and prior to the Canaanites being dispossessed of their lands. However, Shem and his generations were also a part of the problems that led to a great conflict in the lands of Ham. So even though the descendants of Shem received the blessing of the High Priesthood and the land of Canaan Ham that became the land of Asshur, the Canaanite dominant presence remained for one major reason, Asshur Shem was part WHITE CANAANITE. Although today we here in America know this same country as Syria, however, this would be a demise, because it is known ASSYRIA by the people there and by other countries all over the world. In America have we Black Americans been misled to believe that the term ‘Assyria’ has become defunct. But in fact, its name used by other countries and all of the ancient Assyrian symbolism confirms that Syria today is still known as Assyria. The very national flag contains the ancient symbols of Assyria, not Syria. Syria specifically defines the ethnic or dark skinned Syrians of who were present as a distinct culture of people for many thousands of years, but eventually they were suppressed and dominated by the Assyrians by the Roman Empire times. Even though both the Syrians and the Assyrians worship the same god, Ashur [ie Asshur], who was their ancestor, they became two different and distinct cultures due to Colorism and then later because of the other kinds of foreign people that came to intermix with each of them and that became a part of their separate and distinct cultures. Therefore, both Assyria and Syria became different and unique apart from each other in the early times of their formations and during the lifetime of Abraham. So therefore, father Israel bonded with the Syrians and as a result his identity and that of his offspring, they came to be defined in association with Syria and both of these cultures, Syria and Israel, did not look like Assyrian people. Therefore like many of the tens of thousands of Syrians that became forced marched into Egypt and suppressed under ‘hard bondage’ at a later time especially during the 18th Dynasty of the Thutmosis, the descendants of Israel became a part of this time period as well. Unlike the Assyrians of whom the Egyptians elevated, on the other hand, the Syrians were loathed. While the Hebrew Israelites were suppressed and concentrated in Lower Egypt in the north by the Assyrians, however, the Nubian-Egyptians became suppressed in Upper Egypt in the south: For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. ISAIAH 52:4. So even though today, the Arab people of Syria do not all reflect the ancient Assyrians, however, the name of the very country is not called Syria as we are made to believe here in America based on our records and maps, but it is still referred to as Assyria in other parts of the world. And in ancient times, the Egyptians worshiped the Assyrians because they were White Syrians. Even though many African Americans have become enraged at the idea that the Egyptians have been thought at times to have been White, not only does the Bible support this truth but it also confirms the secular records too, in that yes, the Egyptians did welcome in the Assyrians and inter-mixed with Asiatic and White people of whom did come to rule in Egypt at some point in time. Joseph was the son of a Syrian woman and he was forced into Egypt during the 12th Dynasty. Yet even at this time, the Egyptian rulers over Egypt came to regard the Assyrians as being more supreme than the Syrians and for this reason and when Joseph was delivered out of the dungeon and elevated, Joseph was not identified as being a Syrian, but he was given a royal title that linked him to his ancestor Terah, not Abraham! Even though Joseph never knew Terah or even Terah’s son Haran, or his own Great-grandfather Abraham for that matter and Abraham completely separated himself from his father Terah and from the Assyrians, and Joseph’s Egyptian statue depicted him as being Brown skinned like the Syrian man that he was, however, he was associated with Assyria and not Syria by the Egyptians. Joseph’s name was associated with the Assyrian city of Haran (ie Charran, Naharin) that was built up by Terah (ie Thara), a city not named after his own ancestor Abraham. And Joseph made it plain to his own people how the Hebrew were regarded by the Egyptians as Hebrews were marked by trade as being shepherds and not cattle herders, and so likewise from the viewpoint of the Egyptians, the Syrian people were also marked as being subordinate to the Assyrians for various physical reasons as well. In comparison to the Egyptians of that time period of the 12th Dynasty, Joseph may have been regarded as being lighter skinned than the Nubians and the Egyptians, but he was still ethnic in his appearance and brown skinned like the Syrians. So as the Egyptian records do show, Joseph was indeed, a Syrian and in the beginning, he wore the attire and hairstyles that remained a dominant theme in Syria and in Israel for thousands and thousands of years. Joseph had African-typed hair, bushy hair, and he was pictured in his tomb likewise. The beginning of his life story in his tomb in Egypt does not begin with his birth, he was depicted as a slave. Joseph was depicted as being brown skinned with a huge black afro, and he had only a white cloth wrapped around his waist, bare foot, bent over and with a tool in his hand. But the depictions of Joseph ended on the other side of the tomb of him depicted with a headdress that covered his hair. In fact the very hairstyle that Joseph wore was also described as being the hairstyle of the Syrians, and this hairstyle today known by some in East Africa as being called, THE TIFFA, was first depicted in ancient Egyptian records during the time of the 12th Dynasty, the very time that Joseph was brought into Egypt. Many Hebrew Israelite people today in East Africa still wear this very hairstyle of the ancient Syrians of which would be a large afro at the crown or top of their head and then longer locks of hair that drapes down around their neck and back. Because the East African girls don’t ‘poll’ or cut their hair like the men to have the afro at the crown of their head, another typical style worn in Northeast Africa today of the women of Eritrea and elsewhere in that region of Ethiopia would be that they twist back about four or more thick rows of hair at the top of the head and let the rest of their thick hair be free at the back and drape down. Therefore, the ancient records of the past and of today can reveal truth and pinpoint the cultural identity and physical genetic traits that would define the true origins of the Hebrew Israelite people to be in association with the ancient people of Syria. Cont. Among traditional Hidarab (Beja), Beni-Amer and some Tigre men, they style their hair in a fluffy crown like shape that have long ringlets hanging down on the sides. This type of hairstyle is known as the tiffa in the Hidareb language. Attesting to its antiquity, ancient Egyptian paintings found in tombs that date back to the 12th Dynasty show the tiffa hairstyle being present among their citizens. THE BLESSING OF JOSEPH …The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. GENESIS 49: 26. TIFFA HAIRSTYLE, Ancient Egypt Record THE BLESSING OF JOSEPH …And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,… And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. DEUTERONOMY 33:13-16.

https://destee.com/threads/hebrew-israelite-origins.87407/

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November brings us two eclipses in the month. Total solar eclipse will occur on November 13 and penumbral lunar eclipse on November 28, 2012. On November 13, residents of northeastern Australia will see the sun fully obscured by the moon, whose shadow will darken the sky for 2 minutes there on November 13. The only visible part of the sun during the total eclipse will be its glowing corona, or outer atmosphere, protruding around the moon’s silhouette. Parts of New Zealand and Chile will see the sun partially obscured as the moon crosses the sky. Slooh Space Camera will host free webcast, starting at 19:30 UTC. Slooh will also broadcast the month’s second eclipse, a penumbral lunar eclipse on November 28. (Source: SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration) A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth, Sun and Moon align, with the Earth situated in the middle. Penumbral lunar eclipse is when Earth is casting a shadow on the moon which never passes through the dark inner core of the Earth’s shadow (the umbra) but only the hazy border (the penumbra). November’s penumbral lunar eclipse will be seen at the northern half of the moon, easily visible to the naked eye after most of the moon has dipped into the Earth’s penumbra. Observers in the Eastern United States will miss out on the lunar eclipse, as the moon will already have set there when the eclipse begins. But the rest of the country can watch at least part of it, with the duration of visibility longest for people on the West Coast and in Alaska. So when does the U.S. get to see an Eclipse? Not in this century. I’m guessing?

https://watchers.news/2019/11/10/unseasonably-cold-arctic-airmass-snow-and-freezing-rain-with-gusty-winds-across-the-central-and-eastern-us/Nov

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What's the Difference Between an Autonomous and a Driverless Car? Also called autonomous cars, robotic cars, and self-driving cars, truly driverless cars were essentially the stuff of science fiction until relatively recently. Definitions vary, but autonomous cars are typically defined as versions of our current vehicles that are capable of taking over from the driver under certain circumstances, whereas driverless cars are even more automated and usually have no steering wheel or pedals. The involvement of Google (and now Waymo) in developing the necessary software for the operation of these vehicles has increased public interest in technology and functionality issues as well as increasing investment. In this article, I explain... - the advantages and disadvantages of driverless cars, presented in the form of a pros-and-cons list - whether driverless cars can be as safe or safer than human-driven ones - which type is better for the environment - how driverless cars work - how the various levels of a car's automation are classified - where you might see driverless cars on the road today - a brief history of their development 20 Advantages of Driverless Cars - Without the need for a driver, cars could become mini leisure rooms. Without the need for controls, there would be more space available inside the vehicle and no need for passengers to face forwards. In effect, they could be comfortable environments for travel. - Entertainment technology, such as video screens, could be used without any concern of distracting the driver. - Human drivers often bend rules and take risks, even breaking laws, but driverless cars will obey every rule and posted speed limit, making the roads safer for everyone. - Over 80% of car crashes in the US are caused by driver error. These accidents would be minimized or prevented by the introduction of driverless cars. Drunk and drugged driving would also become a thing of the past. - Travelers would be able to journey overnight and sleep for the duration. - Traffic could be coordinated more smoothly in urban areas to prevent bottlenecks and traffic jams at busy times. Commute times could be reduced drastically. - Driving fatigue and getting lost would be things of the past. - Sensory technology could potentially perceive the environment better than humans could, seeing farther ahead, better in poor visibility, and detecting smaller and more subtle obstacles. Plus, several cameras might be used at once, and cameras have no blind spots, so they will be more aware and vigilant than a human driver ever could be. - Speed limits could be safely increased, thereby shortening journey times. - Difficult maneuvering and parking would be quicker, less stressful and require no special skills. - People who have difficulties driving—such as disabled people, older citizens, and children—would be able to experience the freedom of solo car travel. - There would no longer be a need for driving licenses or driving tests. - With fewer associated risks, insurance premiums for car owners would go down drastically. - Efficient travel means fuel savings for travelers. - Greater efficiency would mean fewer emissions and less pollution from cars, meaning a lower negative environmental impact. - Reduced need for safety gaps, lanes, and shoulders means that road capacities for vehicles would be significantly increased. - Passengers will experience a smoother riding experience. - Self-aware cars would lead to a reduction in car theft. - Road rage will be reduced or disappear. - Parking can become completely automated with no need to drive around looking for spaces. The car could even just drop you off and then go park itself, and return when requested. 17 Disadvantages of Driverless Cars - A self-driving car would be unaffordable for most people, likely costing over $100,000 initially. It could be many years before the average person owns one. - Truckers, taxi drivers, Uber/Lyft, and delivery drivers will gradually lose their jobs as autonomous vehicles take over. - A computer malfunction—even just a minor glitch—could easily cause a far worse accident than anything human error might typically incur. - Autonomous cars have great trouble distinguishing and determining the intentions of human drivers on the roads. - Since driverless cars obey all the rules and regulations, this means that both the individual vehicle and the larger flow of traffic might be slower and less organic. These vehicles have been described as behaving like student drivers: slow, conservative, and timid. On a road shared with human drivers, they may be annoying to navigate around for human drivers. - If the car crashes without a driver, who's fault is it: the software designer or the owner of the vehicle? Driverless systems will definitely trigger many debates about legal, ethical, and financial responsibility. - Driverless cars would rely on the collection of location and user information, quite possibly triggering major privacy concerns. - Hackers getting into the vehicle's software and controlling or affecting its operation would be a major concern. - Maintenance would have to be overseen. Some process of governmental oversight would have to be instated to make sure every driverless car is safe. - Driverless vehicles have been shown to have difficulty operating in certain types of weather. Heavy rain interferes with roof-mounted laser sensors, and snow can interfere with cameras. - Reading road signs is challenging for a robot. They are therefore almost entirely reliant on computer data. GPS and other technologies might not register obstacles like potholes, recent changes in road conditions, such as roadworks, or a public event. - As drivers become more accustomed to not driving, their proficiency and experience will diminish. Should they then ever need to drive under certain circumstances, there will be problems. - The road system and infrastructure would need radical upgrades for driverless vehicles to operate efficiently on them. Traffic and street lights, for instance, would likely all need altering. - Self-driving cars would be great news for terrorists, as those vehicles could be loaded with explosives and used as moving bombs. - Multiple ethical dilemmas could arise, which a computer might struggle to deal with. Faced with a choice between plowing into a group of schoolchildren or going off a bridge and killing all its passengers, what will the vehicle do? Should the vehicle swerve to avoid animals in the road, or always prioritize the safety and comfort of passengers? - Human behavior can be complex and unpredictable. Drunks, heavy foot traffic, jaywalkers, and hand signals are difficult for a computer to understand. In situations where drivers need to deal with erratic human behavior or communicate with one another, the driverless vehicle might fail. - How would the police interact with driverless vehicles, especially in the case of accidents or crimes? 61% of people say they wouldn't ride in a self-driving car... and only 21% said they'd be willing to ride in one. — According to a survey by the Brookings Institution Which Are Safer: Driverless or Human-Driven Cars? According to data from the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute's report, which compared all the available data on all collisions of self-driving cars with statistics involving human-driven ones, driverless vehicles get into more crashes, but those crashes are less serious than those caused by conventional vehicles. Below are some key findings: - Driverless vehicles had more crashes. 9.1 crashes per million miles driven (compared with 4.1 crashes per million miles for human-driven ones). - Driverless cars had a higher rate of injury, but those injuries were not as dire as those incurred in conventional vehicles. Driverless cars had 0.36 injuries per crash (compared with 0.25 for conventional vehicles). However, these injuries were minor compared with those sustained in conventional vehicle crashes. - However, the driverless vehicles were NOT responsible for any of the crashes. - In the incidents they looked at, driverless cars also never hit bicyclists or pedestrians, something that human-driven vehicles often did. Are Driverless Cars Better for the Environment? Today, transportation is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse-gas emissions and pollution. There's a chance that driverless cars could help. - Many autonomous vehicles are being designed to be entirely electric, so they'd save on fossil fuels and reduce emissions and pollution. - If we all used taxis, then we would be sharing those vehicles and we'd need fewer cars, collectively. We'd need fewer cars and we'd prevent the environmental cost of manufacturing more cars. - Many of these vehicles are built for more efficient fuel usage, and they can be programmed to take the most fuel-efficient routes and can be programmed to operate at maximum efficiency all the time. How Do Driverless Cars Work? Driverless cars sense their surroundings using technology such as LiDAR, radar, GPS, and computer vision. The sensory information they gather is then processed to direct appropriate pathways for the vehicle to take, avoiding obstacles and also obeying the road signs and rules. The car uses a digital map which can be constantly updated according to sensory input. This allows the vehicle to adapt to changing situations as well as travel through previously unknown territories. Technologies That Autonomous Vehicles Require: - Video is used to read road signs and traffic lights and keep tabs on pedestrians, obstacles, and other vehicles. - Radar sensors keep track of the position of nearby vehicles. - LiDAR sensors monitor the road's borders and lane markings and other things in the vicinity. - While parking, ultrasonic wheel sensors monitor the position of curbs and other vehicles. - A central computer collects and analyses all this data to help it steer, accelerate, and brake, as needed. Different Levels of Autonomy in Vehicles This formal classification system for automated cars has been proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Level 0: Driver has complete control of vehicle at all times. Level 1: Some vehicle controls are automated, e.g. automatic braking. Level 2: Two or more controls can be automated at the same time, e.g. cruise control and lane keeping. Level 3: The driver can yield control in certain circumstances. Level 4: Driver not expected to play any part in the driving process at all. Level 5: The vehicle performs autonomously in every scenario, including extreme and unusual conditions. Are self-driving, autonomous, robotic, and driverless cars all the same? Insiders don't use these terms interchangeably, but most people see them as synonyms. Technically, a self-driving car is less advanced than a driverless one, since a driverless car (Level 4 or 5) never requires a person to take control—in fact, it may even lack the steering wheel and brakes that would make that possible. An insider might use the terms "driverless" and "autonomous" almost interchangeably to refer to a vehicle that requires little or no driver participation, while the terms "self-driving" and "automated" have broader, less precise meanings. Today, most vehicles are at least partially self-driving (Level 1, 2, and 3) with automatic brake systems, cruise control, and lane assistance. Most cars on the road now are automated to some degree, but a merely automated car doesn't have the capability or autonomy that an autonomous car has. In the US, there are very few legal, fully-autonomous and driverless vehicles on the road, unless they're being tested. You may see a few autonomous (Level 3, 4, or 5) prototypes driving around, although they usually contain a human person with access to the controls in case of emergency. What about those driverless taxis we've all heard about, the ones that are supposed to take the human drivers' jobs away? Many companies are moving to make this idea a reality. For example, in 2018, Google's break-off company started offering driverless taxi service to passengers in a 100-mile zone of Phoenix suburbs. The company says it has logged more than 10 million miles testing its vehicles on public streets. This service, called Waymo One, usually includes a human "co-driver" who's there to take over the controls in case of emergency, but not always, and Waymo says it will eventually phase out these co-drivers (although they don't say when). The companies who are testing on public roads and experimenting with driverless taxi services have not been very public or transparent about their findings or activities. Although Waymo calls itself "the safest driver on the road," surveys have shown that people are hesitant to trust the technology, and for good reason: In March of 2018, a pedestrian was hit and killed by a self-driving Uber in Arizona. Will driverless taxis be cheaper than Ubers or Lyfts? In Arizona, using a driverless taxi costs about the same as using a regular, human-driven service. The prohibitive cost of the vehicle itself negates any savings in human labor. When the technology and cost of building them become cheaper, that's when professional human drivers will have something to worry about. What's It Like Riding Inside a Driverless Car? Where Are Driverless Cars Legal in the US? As no state has outlawed the technology, strictly speaking it's not illegal anywhere in the US to own or operate a self-driving car. However, many states have either passed specific legislation to regulate or authorize the use of autonomous vehicles, or are in the process of doing so. As of 2018, thirty states—Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin—have enacted legislation related to autonomous vehicles. When Will We See Driverless Cars on Public Roads? With so many states moving to enact legislation and so many companies testing their vehicles on the roads, you may have already seen a driverless vehicle...and perhaps you didn't even notice. However, companies and cities alike are being very hush-hush about these tests, since the prevailing public sentiment is not entirely positive. When Will I Be Able to Buy a Driverless Car? According to automaker and technology company predictions, Level 4 vehicles could be available to the public within a few years. However, they will likely cost over $100,000 and will therefore be unaffordable for most people. A Brief History of Self-Driving Vehicles The origins of automated cars go back to the 1920s, when experiments on automated driving systems (ADS) started being conducted. Technology significantly advanced and trials started being conducted in the 1950s, but it wasn't until the introduction of computers in the 1980s that truly autonomous vehicles became a possibility. Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, Bosch, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, the University of Parma, Oxford University, and Google (now Waymo) have all developed prototype vehicles since then. This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional. © 2015 Paul Goodman Swarnika Jain from India on July 24, 2020: excellent article for the understanding of driverless cars seerena on June 17, 2020: Very good article. Has the most on driverlless cars i could find. Aiden Campbell on January 14, 2020: I used as this as a source for a test Luc Amoary on October 14, 2019: wow! very useful thanks Stacey Schaller on March 16, 2019: Very interesting comments. Your article is very well done. gh mbnm on March 14, 2019: Are self driving cars better for the environment? Abigail on January 11, 2019: What is your opinion on driverless cars? mrs dicaprio on November 15, 2018: so helpful my whole class is on this page thanks Jason Bourne on October 22, 2018: Thanks a lot. random on March 27, 2018: Thanks very useful Teja on March 14, 2018: sinha on March 09, 2018: Bill Nye on February 28, 2018: Random User who needed homework answers on February 28, 2018: thanks for my homework answers Jocelyne (France) on February 05, 2018: Very interesting article that makes us better think about this new possibility. chauhan rajesh on December 25, 2017: Nice project for my subject jaskiran on November 14, 2017: Such a useful article. It really helped me a lot and I learnt many new things about this time of AI. Thank you for all this help! Maurice Glaude from Dallas, TX on October 23, 2017: I'm personally looking for to this. I've been waiting for the day when everyone drives them since I first saw this concept in a boyscout magazine when I was kid that depicted two people playing chess facing each other instead of driving. Du dam sun on October 19, 2017: Dum dum doorknob eat some liver this was a very good article. Axel on October 17, 2017: Very good article. Has the most on driverlless cars i could find. RaNdOm UsEr on October 06, 2017: Good information for school hhbnih on September 21, 2017: balaji j on August 17, 2017: Ms23 on August 14, 2017: This is a great idea best site :) y347 on May 10, 2017: I think this car will be a good car imagine if you need to read something your boss told you to read and your late on your way you will be reading the book. Quick on March 22, 2017: Very good website Sky on March 20, 2017: This was pretty helpful considering that I am writing an essay/speech of going for driverless cars. So I basically tried to only understand the whole "advantages" point, but now I feel like I want to go against because of some of the disadvantages. Great job on this, I actually found things that weren't in ALL the other sites I've looked at. punji on January 16, 2017: cars can be driven all over especially in the U.K Jonathan on December 04, 2016: Well, maybe our great-grandparents missed riding horse driven carraiges DaCarAddict on December 01, 2016: Very true. This article covers a lot of ground for the driverless cars debate; I personally don't trust these cars in the future as who knows what AI technology can understand and preform in emergencies. emily on November 24, 2016: ok i think i will miss normal cars 50 years in the future Glenn Stok from Long Island, NY on April 10, 2016: You covered this issue with driverless cars very thoroughly. Your lists of advantages and disadvantages provided a lot of issues to consider. And it is clear that this is not going to,happen any time soon. The entire infrastructure of roads will need to be changed, as you had mentioned. I can't imagine how autonomous vehicles will be able to maneuver through complicated areas with confusing signage. I would think that there has to be a new technology where roadsigns transmit information via radio signals, or maybe Wi-Fi. And this will then interface with autonomous vehicles. In any case, this technology is something I expect to happen in the next decade. Maybe not with completely self driving vehicles, but with vehicles that help existing drivers when necessary. Maurice Glaude from Dallas, TX on August 23, 2015: Very cool. I remember these boy scout magazines that I used to get way back in elementary school. I saved this particular one because it had a futuristic car on the cover that displayed people facing each other playing chess. It was suppose to be the car of the future and it was projected that we would have these cars in the YEAR 2000. I thought wow back in the 80s the year 2000 is going to be so awesome. Well the year 2000 came and went and I'm still driving. What happened? Larry Rankin from Oklahoma on August 04, 2015: It is one thing to get in a train on a rail with no driver, but I just can't see getting into a car that drives itself. Just a control freak I guess.

https://axleaddict.com/safety/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-Driverless-Cars

Car Talk

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Health Benefits of Boiled Eggs There has been an ongoing debate about whether eggs, because of the cholesterol content, poses more of a health risk than health benefits. In fact, there was a rumor circulating in some areas that eating one egg was like eating a whole chicken! This was at the height of the global cholesterol furor. Fortunately, thanks to the intensive research, it was discovered cholesterol found in food like eggs have much less of an effect on blood cholesterol levels than the amount of saturated fat we eat. Saturated fats include dairy foods like butter, cream and cheese and full-fat milk. Fatty cuts of Beef, Lamb and Beef and pork as well as processed meats like Vienna Sausages, Polonis, Salami and Chicken Skin are also high in saturated fats. High in Nutritional Value Eating boiled eggs is possibly the healthiest way to eat eggs because they are cooked without oil or butter,which adds extra calories and fat to the meal and it does not sabotage weight loss efforts which may be on the go. The nutritional value of boiled eggs is the same as eggs cooked by other methods. The white and the yolk of the egg are both extremely rich in nutrients and contains protein, vitamins and various minerals. The yolk of the egg is the part which contains cholesterol, fat soluble vitamins such as A,D,E and K, as well as essential fatty acids like omega 3 and 6. About 60% of the protein in an egg is found in the white, as well as vitamins B12, C trace minerals like zinc copper. There is also a high content of selenium, which is a potent antioxidant, in the egg white- which also contains a much lower content of fat and cholesterol than the yolk. The combination of these nutrients make eggs a fantastic source of a complete protein as they contain all 9 essential amino acids, so necessary for good health that are not able to be made by the body and which we have to obtain from our diet. Here are some of the health benefits you can expect to find in eggs: High sources of vitamins D and C which helps to protect bones and protect bones and prevent osteoarthritis and keeps the immune system working properly. The B vitamin content,especially vitamin B12 which is needed for healthy metabolism to turn calories from food into energy. B12 is also is also critical for the formation of red blood cells which helps to prevent anemia. Eggs also contain folic acid which is used to treat anemia and also as a supplement for pregnant women to help prevent neural defects in the baby. Eggs contain trace amounts of almost every mineral required by the body to function properly,these include the following: - Calcium to regulate heart rate and blood pressure produce red blood cells, protect the prostate from inflammation and promote healthy bones and teeth. - Iron is necessary for the transport of oxygen to the tissues via hemoglobin in the red blood cells and helps to keep anemia at bay. - Potassium counteracts the effects of too much sodium in the system and helps to maintain the correct acid/alkaline levels in the body. - Manganese is particularly beneficial for post-menopausal women as it promotes bone density,especially in the spine and the legs. - Eggs are indeed a powerhouse of nutrition and should be considered as a very important component in any healthy eating plan. However, haven’t read some of the health benefits of boiled eggs, a boiled egg might look small and lonely on a dinner plate but it is packed with more nutrients than a steak! And it certainly does not pose the same health risk that a steak might. For the weight conscious, its calorie content of 76 or 77, is much lower than that of a scrambled egg which peaks at 91 and a fried egg at 90 calories. The saturated fat content of a boiled egg is also significantly lower than that of the others.Opts for boiled eggs for the best general health benefits. Read Also: Four Health Benefits Of Tiger Nuts Leave a Comment

https://newscityhub.com/health-benefits-of-boiled-eggs/

Health

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A dubious source, but a powerful tool for suppressing dissent Since its inception in 2001, Wikipedia has been a controversial website, plagued with problems, the greatest of which is the serious concern of biased and inaccurate content.1 This is no small problem for the internet at large, since Wikipedia has become a go-to source on nearly everything, appearing in a very high percentage of Google searches as one of the top results.2 More recently, Google was embarrassed by a gaffe in which their search results pulled data automatically from Wikipedia which labeled the California GOP (Republican party) as Nazis—attributed by Google and Wikipedia to ‘vandalism’.3 This only goes to show the deep extent to which Google, the world’s most-used search engine by far, is utilizing the information contained on Wikipedia pages, and the dangers this presents. Wikipedia is rife with overt falsehoods and bias against biblical creationists. It is serving to reinforce this bias across the world as Wikipedia continues to see broader and broader application. Neutral Point of View? Wikipedia is governed by various guidelines which are supposed to regulate how articles are administered on the site. According to their guideline called ‘Neutral point of view’, All encyclopedic content on Wikipedia must be written from a neutral point of view (NPOV), which means representing fairly, proportionately, and, as far as possible, without editorial bias, all of the significant views that have been published by reliable sources on a topic. Already you can see a potential here for bias since we have subjective terms such as “significant” and “reliable” being used. Who gets to determine what constitutes significant or reliable? Well, the editors themselves, as it turns out—that means you, me, and literally anyone with a computer who knows how to edit Wikipedia. But here’s the catch: anyone can also revert any changes made by another editor. This means ultimately that articles represent a ‘consensus’. This would be bad enough in itself, since we know that truth is not decided by majority vote, and ‘consensus science’ is anti-science. But it is worse than it seems on the surface, since most Wikipedia articles are not being watched or edited by a very large number of people. Here, the ‘consensus’ is really only the agreement of a relative few people who, by chance, happen to be the only ones monitoring a given page at a given time. This means that the less popular a page is, the more likely it is to contain errors and bias, or, in the words of wiki expert Alexander Halavais, “The high-traffic areas are going to be the cleanest.”4 Even high-traffic areas, though, are not going to be free of bias if the topic is of a controversial or contentious nature. Since Wikipedia is essentially mob-rule applied to encyclopedia content, the prevailing view of the mob is going to determine the bias of the articles. It is naïve to expect people to police themselves when dealing with topics they are averse to, like biblical creation. Who are ‘Wikipedians’? When you consider who “the mob” is on Wikipedia, it is that subset of people who have access to the internet, know about Wikipedia and care enough about it to make changes on it—and additionally have the technical expertise to do so (since modifying Wikipedia is a bit like using programming language). Wow! Come to think of it, that is a pretty specialized group, isn’t it? And would we expect that particular group to fit into any categories? Probably largely younger people, for starters, and largely Westerners, since the internet is originally a product of the West and is still dominated largely by the West. It turns out my predictions were right on the money. A 2010 study on Wikipedia editors shows that the greatest number of editors are in the USA (20%), followed by Germany (12%) and Russia (7%). The only non-Western country in the top 10 was India (3%), which of course also has a strong Western influence due to the history of British colonialism there. 59% were ages 17 to 40.5 So if Wikipedia editors tend to be younger Westerners, what biases would we expect to find there? We know that younger people in the USA are tending more and more towards the abandonment of religion.6 This trend is even more severe in Europe, which is now being described as post-Christian.7 The trend among younger people in the USA is also towards the acceptance of Darwinism and rejection of biblical creation according to a Pew Research Center report (according to one reporter, “ … if you ask a younger American how humans arose, you’re likely to get an answer that has nothing to do with God”).8 Bias, bias, bias! This all adds up to a stark and sad reality: Wikipedia is very likely to be hopelessly, terribly unbalanced in articles dealing with God, religion and creation science. In digging through some relevant pages, I found some really cringe-worthy, egregious examples of this. In the Wikipedia guidelines section on ‘Fringe theories’, it says this: “Pseudoscience usually relies on attacking mainstream scientific theories and methodology while lacking a critical discourse itself (as is common among Biblical creationists)” [emphasis mine] 9 They didn’t even attempt to hold back, claiming that creationism is pseudoscience. Creationists certainly do not lack a critical discourse; all the articles on this site, for example, undergo a peer review process. In addition, creationists publish in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Creation, and go to collective meetings such as the International Conference on Creationism, where ideas are debated and discussed, among many other avenues. Creationists even also publish in secular peer-reviewed journals as well!10 Wikipedia openly and blatantly classifies biblical creationism as ‘pseudoscience’: “Creation science is a pseudoscientific attempt to map the Bible into scientific facts. It is viewed by professional biologists as unscholarly, and even as a dishonest and misguided sham, with extremely harmful educational consequences.”11 The level of bias and misrepresentation here is almost beyond words. It is sad that this is coming from what may be the internet’s most-used source of information, but this is the reality we must face in the 21st century. The wording here implies there is a total lack of any professional scientists who support and engage in creation science—a claim which is flat out wrong. Ideology is a big motivator According to Wikipedia’s policy on neutrality, “Articles must not take sides, but should explain the sides, fairly and without editorial bias. This applies to both what you say and how you say it.”12 However, according to a study from 2007, “ideology” was among the most commonly indicated motives for editing Wikipedia articles.13 There is obviously a major conflict of interest present if people are commonly making edits to Wikipedia for ideological reasons, which is exactly the opposite of Wikipedia’s stated policy of neutrality. Predictably, the result is that bias is rife within the articles on the site. The proper response to this is twofold: first, Christians and biblical creationists should lobby whenever possible against the rampant bias at Wikipedia and make others aware of it. How else can we ever hope to see a positive change? Christians should engage themselves in the debate online by taking part in the editing of Wikipedia articles to remove clear instances of bias (but not to attempt to introduce pro-Christian biases of our own in the text). For my part, I raised a fuss at Wikipedia over Jonathan Sarfati’s biographical page including a defamatory quote from Eugenie Scott calling Refuting Evolution 2 a “crude piece of propaganda”.14 To make a long story short, I wound up getting banned indefinitely on that account, and one of the Wikipedia editors had this to say (a clear admission of purposeful defamation and discrimination): “There is zero chance that Wikipedia will ever treat pseudoscientists who believe that everything was created in 7 literal days 10,000 years ago the same way we treat the actual scientists -- astronomers, physicists, geologists, paleontologists, etc. -- who have solid evidence that the earth is much, much older.”15 Of course, this comment betrays ignorance of the biblical account itself, since God created in 6, not 7 days. In addition, it commits the No True Scotsman fallacy in asserting that creation scientists are not ‘actual’ scientists.16 Second, it should be clearly understood in general that Wikipedia is not a good source of information, especially on lesser-known topics and on any potentially controversial topics. That does not make it useless, however. For example, I have found Wikipedia to be a great source of other sources. Sometimes this can be a great shortcut to finding relevant pages, papers, books, etc. on a topic of interest. It has been documented time and again that there is a battle going on in academia and in the media to attempt to silence all dissent against Darwinism. Because Wikipedia is so driven by consensus (rule of the majority a.k.a. mob rule), it suffers from all the problems that such systems of governance typically do, such as the ‘tyranny of the majority’, where the majority acts against the interests of minority groups.17 The problems at Wikipedia are only symptomatic of a larger struggle that has been going on much longer than Wikipedia has been around. With God’s help, let us do our part to represent and defend the truth of the Bible and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, in every medium possible. References and notes - Fletcher, D., A Brief History of Wikipedia, content.time.com, 18 August 2009. Return to text. - Petrilli, M., Wikipedia or Wickedpedia? Assessing the online encyclopedia’s impact on K-12 education, educationnext.org, 2008. Return to text. - Grunin, L., Wikipedia says vandals caused Google to display Nazism as GOP ideology, cnet.com, 1 June 2018. Return to text. - See ref. 2. Return to text. - Glott, R., Schmidt, P., Ghosh, R., Wikipedia Survey - Overview of Results, UNU-MERIT, 28 August 2011; quoted at Wikipedia:Wikipedians, en.wikipedia.org, Accessed 6 June 2018. Return to text. - Jones, Robert P., Daniel Cox, Betsy Cooper, and Rachel Lienesch. “Exodus: Why Americans Are Leaving Religion – and Why They’re Unlikely to Come Back”, PRRI.org, 22 September 2016. Return to text. - Sherwood, H., ‘Christianity as default is gone’: the rise of a non-Christian Europe, theguardian.com, 20 March 2018. Return to text. - Gross, R., Evolution Is Finally Winning Out Over Creationism, slate.com, 19 November 2015. Return to text. - Wikipedia:Fringe theories, en.wikipedia.org, Accessed 6 June 2018. Return to text. - For one example of this, which confirms the predictions of Sanford’s Genetic Entropy, See Carter, R. and Sanford, J., A new look at an old virus: patterns of mutation accumulation in the human H1N1 influenza virus since 1918, Theor Biol Med Model., 2012 Oct 12, doi: 10.1186/1742-4682-9-42. Return to text. - Creation science, en.wikipedia.org, Accessed 6 June 2018. Return to text. - Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, en.wikipedia.org, Accessed 7 June 2018. Return to text. - Nov, O., What Motivates Wikipedians?, Communications of the ACM, 2007, 50 (11): 60–64, doi:10.1145/1297797.1297798; quoted at Wikipedia:Wikipedians, en.wikipedia.org, Accessed 6 June 2018. Return to text. - See Jonathan Sarfati, en.wikipedia.org, accessed 11 June 2018. Return to text. - Comment from user ‘Guy Macon’, Talk:Jonathan Sarfati, en.wikipedia.org, accessed 11 June 2018. Return to text. - According to the definition at logicalfallacies.info, the No True Scotsman fallacy is “a form of circular argument, with an existing belief being assumed to be true in order to dismiss any apparent counter-examples to it. The existing belief thus becomes unfalsifiable.” Return to text. - See Tyranny of the Majority: Definition & Examples, study.com, Accessed 7 June 2018. Return to text. Comments are automatically closed 14 days after publication.

https://creation.com/wikipedia

Religion

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LAGOS, Nigeria — Fifty years ago, on Jan. 15, Nigeria’s civil war ended. Fought between the country’s southeast region, which seceded and called itself Biafra, and the rest of the country, which Britain supported and armed, the war was brutal. Over a million people died during three years of conflict. After being starved into submission by a blockade, the Biafrans surrendered and their leaders promised to be “loyal Nigerian citizens.” Half a century later, the war’s legacy continues to hold Nigeria captive. It simultaneously brings the country together and pushes it apart. In the early aftermath of the war, the country appeared to be unified. Despite the war’s shocking human tragedy, reconciliation was remarkably rapid. War and partition ironically created a consensus: The country, now united, should never be allowed to break apart again. The government declared a general amnesty for wartime combatants, refused to punish either those who led the secession or those who suppressed it and did not give medals to any soldiers who fought in the so-called Brothers’ War. The country was re-engineered to prevent another secession. To find a way for Nigeria’s more than 250 ethnic groups to live together peacefully, the country was split into 36 states, most of which coincided with the location of a major ethnic group. The federal government, whose power was increased, provided the states with funds — which created a financial deterrent against secession. Postwar leaders found another way of building national unity: the concept of “federal character.” A new Constitution required the composition and conduct of government to “reflect the federal character of Nigeria.” Its purpose was to ensure that no ethnic group would monopolize leadership of the government or be excluded from national economic and political opportunities. Still in place today, it in effect operates as one of the world’s biggest affirmative action schemes. Nigerian law even bans political parties if they adopt names, logos or mottoes with ethnic, geographic or religious connotations, or if their membership does not satisfy constitutional diversity requirements.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/opinion/nigeria-civil-war-anniversary.html

Politics

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Ebola: what you need to know about the newly found ‘cure’ In a new development to combat Ebola Virus Disease, scientists and doctors in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been running a clinical trial of new drugs to try to combat a year-long Ebola outbreak. Two new drugs have shown remarkable promise at treating Ebola in a clinical trial, increasing survival rates for people who recently contracted the disease. The therapies saved roughly 90 percent of the patients who were newly infected, a turning point in the fight against the virus. A randomized trial comparing four different treatments in four towns began in November. This trial was part of the international emergency response to the epidemic in Congo. The trial enrolled roughly 700 patients to try four experimental drugs. However, of the four, two treatments known as REGN-EB3 and mAb114 were considered effective. The two drugs work by intravenously infusing a combination of monoclonal antibodies into the patient’s blood. While the other two drugs, Remdesivir and ZMapp, will no longer be administered because they resulted in death rates up to 3 times as high as the other two drugs in patients with low viral loads. “From now on we will no longer say that Ebola is not curable. This advance will in the future help save thousands of lives that would have had a fatal outcome in the past.” Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director general of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Institut National de Recherche Biomedicale, announced during a press briefing. Ebola first emerged more than 40 years ago, and it sparked global fear after massive outbreaks in West Africa between 2014 and 2016 killed more than 11,300 people. Smaller outbreaks have continued, including an ongoing crisis in Congo where nearly 2,800 people have been diagnosed and more than 1,800 people have died. The World Health Organization declared Ebola a public health emergency “of international concern” this July. Dr. Muyembe said, news of a cure could change the course of the outbreak. Dr. Muyembe, 77, who is referred to as a “true hero” has been fighting Ebola since it first appeared in what was then Zaire in 1976. The virologist spent 43 years of his life finding a cure for the virus which has affected his country since 1976. Decades ago, he pioneered the use of survivors’ blood serum — which contains antibodies — in order to save patients. The two experiment treatments that proved successful last week descend in part from his original research.

https://thenationonlineng.net/ebola-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-newly-found-cure/

Health

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In Islam, Ramadan is not only a month of fasting but also a time for giving and charity. Zakat, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, holds immense significance during this sacred period. As Muslims around the world engage in acts of worship and reflection, understanding the importance of Zakat becomes paramount. Here are five key facts about Zakat, the obligatory charity in Islam, and its relevance during Ramadan. Meaning and Purpose of Zakat Zakat, derived from the Arabic word “zaka,” which means purification or growth, is an obligatory form of almsgiving in Islam. It serves as a means of purifying one’s wealth and sharing blessings with those in need. The primary purpose of Zakat is to address economic disparity, alleviate poverty, and uphold social justice within the Muslim community. By fulfilling the obligation of Zakat, Muslims demonstrate their commitment to caring for the less fortunate and fostering solidarity among believers. Calculation and Eligibility for Zakat Zakat is typically calculated as 2.5% of one’s accumulated wealth and assets over the course of a lunar year. This includes cash, savings, investments, gold, silver, and other valuables that meet or exceed the Nisab threshold, which is the minimum amount of wealth required for Zakat to be obligatory. However, certain conditions must be met for an individual to be eligible to pay Zakat. They must be of sound mind, possess wealth above the Nisab threshold, and have ownership of the assets for a full lunar year. Additionally, Zakat is not only obligatory on wealth but also on certain agricultural produce and livestock. Distribution of Zakat According to Islamic principles, Zakat must be distributed among specific categories of recipients, as outlined in the Quran (Surah At-Tawbah 9:60). These categories include the poor (Al-Fuqara), the needy (Al-Masakin), those employed to administer Zakat (Al-‘Amilin), reconciling hearts (Al-Mu’allafatu Qulubuhum), freeing captives/slaves (Fi-Riqab), debtors (Al-Gharimin), and in the cause of Allah (Fi-Sabilillah). It is recommended to distribute Zakat locally to support the community’s immediate needs, although it can also be given to those in need elsewhere. A foremost organisation at the helms of distribution of Zakat across Nigeria is Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation, a faith-based non-governmental organisation. In 2023, the organisation disbursed a sum of N207,807,592 as zakat proceeds to 2,685 beneficiaries across Lagos State alone. The Executive Director (ED)/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Foundation, Prince Sulayman Olagunju disclosed this at the 19th edition of the disbursement ceremony in Lagos. Timing of Zakat Payment While Zakat is obligatory throughout the year, Ramadan holds special significance for its payment. Many Muslims choose to fulfill their Zakat obligation during Ramadan due to the increased blessings and rewards associated with charitable acts during this blessed month. Paying Zakat during Ramadan not only purifies one’s wealth but also amplifies the spiritual benefits of fasting and worship. Additionally, giving Zakat during Ramadan allows beneficiaries to partake in the joyous celebrations of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the fasting month. Impact and Blessings of Zakat The impact of Zakat extends far beyond the material assistance it provides to those in need. It fosters compassion, empathy, and solidarity within the Muslim community, strengthening the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood. Moreover, Zakat carries immense spiritual rewards, with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) emphasizing its significance in multiple hadiths. By fulfilling the obligation of Zakat with sincerity and devotion, Muslims not only fulfill a religious duty but also attain spiritual purification and closeness to Allah. Zakat serves as a cornerstone of Islamic teachings, emphasizing the importance of charity, compassion, and social responsibility. During Ramadan, the significance of Zakat is magnified, offering Muslims an opportunity to purify their wealth, support those in need, and draw closer to their faith. By understanding and practicing Zakat in accordance with Islamic principles, believers uphold the values of generosity and justice exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and contribute to building a more equitable and compassionate society. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2024/03/zakat-5-key-facts-about-charity-in-islam-during-ramadan/

Phones

en

In 1918, a pandemic virus, called the Spanish flu blew across the world like the current coronavirus and killed at least 50 million people. In Nigeria, then under colonial rule, an estimated 500,000 died. There is a striking similarity between the two pandemics in the way they affected Nigeria: both were brought in by travellers. A little over a century ago, the old killer virus was brought in by travellers arriving by ship from England. Fast forward to the present; travellers arriving by planes from Europe and United States are the chief vectors of the new virus. Don C. Ohadike, a historian and one of the leading scholars on Igbo history wrote about the 1918 pandemic in the Social Science and Medicine Journal in 1991. In the article titled, Diffusion and physiological responses to the influenza pandemic of 1918–19 in Nigeria, he wrote: “The disease was introduced into Nigeria by passengers and crews who arrived via ship from overseas. Thus, coastal ports were the primary focus of the diffusion of the disease. Its spread to the hinterland was facilitated by improvements in transportation technology. Neither maritime quarantine, nor the isolation of patients checked the spread of the disease. “About 500,000 Nigerians, out of a population of 18 million, died in less than 6 months, and between 50 and 80% of the population was stricken. ‘The over-crowded urban centre were the hardest hit and, even though the pandemic declined almost as suddenly as it began, morbidity, mortality, and panic adversely affected the productive capacity of the country”. Jan-Bart Gewald of the African Studies Centre Leiden, The Netherlands, who wrote about the Spanish flu in 2007, relied on Ohadike’s paper, about how the virus impacted Nigeria. But he went further to lament the dearth of global data on victims in many African countries, suggesting that the 500,000 quoted by Ohadike, even for Nigeria could have been a guesstimate. In Gewald’s account, the virus travelled from England to Sierra Leone, then to Gold Coast, now Ghana before landing in Nigeria, the same way travellers move around today, going to high risk areas, only to bring the virus home with them. Gewald gave a pan-African perspective about the Spanish virus, how it decimated African population in South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe and reinforced the evil ideology of racial separation and supremacy. The virus affected the colonialists as well. But Africans living in cramped environment were bigger victims. South Africa lost 300,000 people, 6 per cent of its population to the virus. In Ghana, then the Gold Coast, the virus affected more women than men and altered gender role in the northern part of the country. In the desolate village of Lorha, so many women were sick that, contrary to custom, men had to grind grain and prepare meals. Ohadike similarly wrote about how the virus forced dietary change in southern Nigeria, making people to adopt cassava as a staple food. “The attractiveness of Cassava to so many people is the fact that it requires comparatively less agricultural labour to produce. In periods of stress, where labour may be short, it becomes the crop of choice.” Gewald catalogued how the Spanish virus caused economic crisis all over Africa, how it affected mining, migrant labourers who fled from endemic centres. In Namibia, the pandemic was christened as Kaapitohanga, a disease that did not distinguish between white or black. We quote Gewald again: As in the rest of the world Kaapitohanga, the disease which passes through like a bullet and gave its name to the year 1918, did not respect class, creed or status, and least of all race. It struck German settler, Afrikaner soldier, Herero townsman, and South African administrator with equal vehemence. In its path shops, businesses, administration and daily life ground to a standstill. Like the silver bullet and wooden stake of Stokerian fantasy the disease brought settlers, missionaries and administrators to their knees and obliterated any form of superhuman condition that might possibly have been attributed to the colonisers of Namibia. In the sights of Kaapitohanga all humans were fair game. According to Gewald, the material available suggests that “Spanish Influenza” was introduced into Sierra Leone by the warship H.M.S. Mantua, which arrived in Freetown, capital and harbour of the British colony of Sierra Leone, on 15 August 1918, whilst escorting two passenger ships from Plymouth. Captain of the Mantua, A. Dawson, later reported that on 31 July, “influenza was epidemic at Plymouth when Mantua and ships of her convoy left port”. “In turn the Governor of Sierra Leone later reported to the Secretary of State that “the sanitary affairs of warships lie outside civil control and influenza is not a notifiable disease” consequently “no report was made”. On the day of its arrival, and contrary to the explicit warnings of “medical men” the Mantua was coaled by local labour. In “the week following the coaling … the number of labourers absent from work at the coaling station kept increasing” and by “the 27th August some five hundred out of six hundred were absent from work”. In the disbelieving and shocked words of the Governor: “The disease spread with devastating rapidity, disorganizing everything. Everybody was attacked almost at once. Of my own household of twenty servants not one escaped; and on one day I had to attend to their work myself. It can be easily understood what such a state of affairs would mean to others less The disease spread so fast in Sierra Leone and by the time it was over, over a thousand people died. Another ship S.S. Prah that had sailed from Freetown in August of 1918 took the disease to The Gambia. Before the ship reached Bathurst, now known as Banjul, Sierra Leone shipping authorities had warned via telegraph that the ship’s crew might bring influenza with them. The account of Gambia’s response to the alert was so similar to the response of Nigeria’s health officials today to coronavirus. Here is Gewald’s account: “Upon arrival on 29th August, following telegraphic communication from Freetown warning of the outbreak of the pandemic in Sierra Leone, all passengers were “placed under surveillance, and instructed to report at the Colonial Hospital each morning for a period of four days after arrival”. “On the day following the arrival of the S.S. Prah in Gambia one of the passengers developed symptoms of influenza and became severely sick, but not before passing the disease “on to every other inmate of the house, his medical attendant, etc”. Containment failed. An estimated 387 people were killed by the virus out of a population of 8,000. Gewald also described how the influenza pandemic reached Lagos that year: Following telegraphic communication from Sierra Leone stating that there was a serious epidemic of influenza at Freetown, “and advising that all ships from the United Kingdom and Sierra Leone should be considered infected”, influenza was declared a notifiable infectious disease on 3 September 1918. “Shortly after, on 14th September the S.S. Ashanti arrived from Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast “with a history of much sickness on board”. The body of a man who had died on board before arrival was taken ashore; “a post-mortem examination showed that he died from influenza”. “On the same day S.S. Bida put in from the Gold Coast with no less than 239 people on board. It was later reported that: These passengers landed at Lagos and dispersed in all directions before the sanitary authorities were aware of the fact. These passengers were undoubtedly the primary cause of spreading influenza so rapidly and so intensely throughout Nigeria, and of the many thousands of deaths which followed. It was quite impossible to trace these passengers. In the days following, those who had been in contact with the passengers of the Bida, be they customs clerks or medical officers, spread the disease ever further, and on 25 September Lagos was declared infected under the Public Health Ordinance. Throughout the month of October the disease raged through Lagos An estimated 1,200 people died from the influenza out of the Lagos population of 80,000 plus. Even much more deaths were recorded in the hinterland that led Ohadike to give an estimate of 500,000 dying in Nigeria of the pandemic disease. It is certain the Nigerian authorities want to avoid a repeat of history, which led to the various containment strategies being deployed against coronavirus: tracing, tracking possible vectors and their contacts, curfews, shutdowns and statewide lockdowns. Not to forget, enlightenment campaigns stressing social distancing, hand washing and so on.

https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2020/04/01/flashback-how-another-pandemic-virus-killed-500000-nigerians-102-years-ago/

Health

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“Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of Africa,” an exhibition at New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, takes you deep into the history of a currently volatile part of the continent. The show occupies just two small galleries, but spans a 500-mile stretch of the Nile River Valley (now Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt) and more than 2,250 years (from about 3000 B.C. through 750 B.C.). During that time conquerors became the conquered; trading partners were reborn as bitter enemies. A brief summary of the period: Beginning in about 3000 B.C., Southern Nubia developed into a powerful kingdom known as Kush. Egypt, increasingly nervous about this neighbor, conquered a large swath of it in 1500 B.C. Four centuries later the Egyptian empire collapsed; a dark age followed. Then, around 900 B.C., Nubia rose again. By 750 B.C., its Napatan kings had control of Egypt — at least until the Assyrians arrived, in 650 B.C. In addition to charting these dizzying power swings, “Nubia” reminds us how little we know about this ancient culture. For one thing, Nubians did not develop their own written language until the second century B.C.; their story has largely been told by the Egyptians, who were prolific scribes. We know, for instance, that an Egyptian official named Harkhuf was sent to Nubia to obtain incense, ebony, oils, panther skins, ivory and a pygmy. This narrative is, of course, a biased one. To Egypt, Nubia, at its most powerful, was “vile Kush.” When Nubians appear in Egyptian murals and statues, it’s often as primitives or prisoners. More recently, our own Western prejudices — namely the idea that geographic Egypt was not a part of “black” Africa — have contributed to the dearth of knowledge about Nubia. The early-20th-century archaeologist George Reisner, for instance, identified large burial mounds at the site of Kerma as the remains of high Egyptian officials instead of those of Nubian kings. (Several of Reisner’s finds are in the show, reattributed to the Nubians.) In one of his catalog essays the archaeologist Geoff Emberling, who conceived the show along with Jennifer Chi of the institute, examines some of these historical errors. “We now recognize that populations of Nubia and Egypt form a continuum rather than clearly distinct groups,” Mr. Emberling writes, “and that it is impossible to draw a line between Egypt and Nubia that would indicate where ‘black’ begins.” “Nubia” is by no means a comprehensive picture of this ancient civilization — we haven’t had one of those since the mid-1990s — but it’s certainly illuminating. As a collaboration between the university and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, it strikes a scholarly but not overly specialized tone. The museum organized the exhibition and lent the majority of the show’s objects, many of which are rarely on view there. The first room, of pottery and faience, offers a glimpse of Nubia before the Egyptian conquest. The Nubians, who were among the earliest peoples to fire clay, became expert shapers of it. Their tradition of hand-formed ceramics more or less disappeared when the Egyptians arrived, bringing pottery wheels, but it produced some remarkable objects while it lasted. One of the show’s most delightful pieces is a pitcher shaped like a hippopotamus, from about 1700-1550 B.C. The creature’s mouth serves as a spout. Other vessels have incised patterns that cleverly mimic basket weaves, like the chevrons on a large redware bowl from 3100-3000 B.C. Also here are examples of faience, a blue-green paste made from crushed quartz or sand and often substituted for the more precious turquoise or lapis lazuli. Though an Egyptian invention, faience became an important status symbol for the Nubian elite and was locally produced. One of Reisner’s excavations turned up pieces of large-scale architectural faience, including a rosette-patterned ceiling block and a wall inlay of a lion, which are both on view. They are thought to have decorated the funeral beds of the kings of Kerma (the capital of Kush). Many more funerary objects are on display in the second and larger gallery, which covers the period from Egypt’s conquest of Nubia through the reign of the Napatan dynasty (the Nubian kings who ruled Egypt). In this room the two cultures become harder to distinguish. Egypt’s assimilation of Nubia into its empire prompted some political niceties. The name “Kush” remained, but the adjective “vile” was dropped; the Egyptian governor of Nubia was called the “King’s Son of Kush.” The Egyptian cult of Amun was modified to suggest Nubia’s “holy mountain,” Gebel Barkal, as that deity’s birthplace. For its part, Nubia adopted some Egyptian dress styles and burial customs, even after conquering Egypt. One was the use of the pyramid; earlier Nubian rulers had been entombed in giant mounds. Another was the addition of shawabtis, small figures thought to work on behalf of the deceased in the underworld. The tomb of the Napatan king Senkamanisken contained more than a thousand shawabtis, slaves of the afterlife, some of which are here. Also on display is a large statue of Senkamanisken, who ruled from 640 to 620 B.C. His one-foot-forward pose and serpent crown look very Egyptian, though there are subtle differences; the crown has two serpents, as opposed to the one favored by the Egyptian pharaohs. Here, too, are objects recovered from the pyramids of other Nubian kings. But the real buried treasure in this show is the story of the Nubian queens; because kings often married their sisters, some scholars say that power descended through the female line. A delicate crystal pendant showing the Egyptian goddess Hathor with a cow’s horns is one of the show’s most extraordinary objects. It was found in the tomb of an unidentified queen of the Napatan king Piye, who had at least five wives. And it reminds us that for all we know about Egypt, there’s much we still don’t know — and may never know — about Nubia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/arts/design/nubia-ancient-kingdoms-of-africa-review.html?_r=1&pagewanted=allPlease

Culture

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Babies born during the brief but intense Biafra famine in Nigeria 40 years ago have grown up to be more susceptible to obesity and its attendant maladies than those born on either side of it, scientists have found. The researchers, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital in Enugu, said the finding added evidence to the argument that malnutrition in the womb causes greater susceptibility to such problems in later life. Their study was published online last week by PLoS One. Recruiting in marketplaces, the researchers tested 1,339 adults in three groups: those gestated before, during and after the famine, which lasted from late 1968 to early 1970. The adults born in the famine weighed about five pounds more, and had slightly higher blood pressure and blood glucose. The researchers acknowledged that they did not recruit as many subjects as they originally hoped for, nor could they control for factors like whether poorer, smaller mothers died in the war, or how surviving mothers treated their children. Biafra, the homeland of the Ibo tribe, tried to secede from Nigeria in 1967, in a dispute with other tribes and the military-led government over language, religion and oil reserves. The Nigerian Army, buoyed by support from Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States, surrounded Biafra and cut off all food; one million civilians may have died in the ensuing famine, which became a cause célèbre in the West, especially for John Lennon of Beatles fame.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/health/02global.html?_r=1&ref=africa

Politics

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IN this world, most people are not famous at all. Some people’s fame is ephemeral, some are famous for 5 minutes and are hardly remembered again. Most persons are not remembered at all a year after their corpse is interred. Remembrance becomes enduring only when one’s life’s work has relevance for many future generations. Why do we mourn Ojukwu’s death? Why should we keep fresh our memory of him? Let us tell the world, as well as remind ourselves, of the man, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and of his struggles on our behalf, and let us note some of the brave services he rendered us in a period of more than 60 years; selfless services for which we are indebted to him and should hold him in highest esteem. Ojukwu lived a life filled with such deeds as legends are made of. Here are some: Consider the case of the Zulu hero, Shaka. When he was 13, Shaka attacked and killed a black Mamba snake that had killed a prize bull he was guarding. Like Shaka, Ojukwu as a boy exhibited the bravery and protectiveness that would win him fame as an adult. Ojukwu: Anti-colonial Defender of the Racially Oppressed In 1944, when he was 11, Ojukwu was briefly imprisoned for assaulting a white British colonial teacher who was humiliating a black woman at King’s College in Lagos, an event which generated widespread coverage in local newspapers. For a schoolboy to fight a teacher is unusual, and requires great courage. For any black person in a colonial society ruled by all-powerful whites, a society which practices racial discrimination, such behavior required extreme provocation or extreme folly. For an 11 year old black schoolboy in such a society to fight a teacher belonging to the master race required extraordinary audacity. And for him to do so in defence of another black person, and not of himself, showed a precocious race consciousness and a meritorious sense of racial solidarity. Marcus Garvey would have been proud of the lad and recognized him as one destined to do great deeds for the black race. Here was a boy to watch. And, when he grew up, Ojukwu did not disappoint such expectations. After this event, his father, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, a millionaire businessman and one of the richest men in Nigeria, packed him off to England to an elite boarding school. From there he proceeded to Oxford University. After earning his Master’s Degree in History, he returned to colonial Nigeria in 1956 and joined the colonial administration as a District Officer. After serving a year, he made an extraordinary career move. He resigned and enlisted in the Army in 1957, not as an officer cadet, but as an ordinary soldier. Nevertheless, he rose rapidly from the ranks and in 1964, became a Lieutenant Colonel, and was appointed the Quartermaster General of the Nigerian Army. All this he achieved within 7 years in a peace-time army, not in a wartime army where a high attrition rate accelerates promotions. Soon thereafter political events pushed Ojukwu into political leadership when the coup of January 1966 led to his appointment as the Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria. That was the platform from where he performed the great deeds that have made him famous. Ojukwu: Hero of Aburi Biafran leader, Lietenant Colonel C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, military governor of East Nigeria in this 1966 file photo. The first of these deeds was his brilliant performance in the negotiations at the Conference of Nigeria’s military rulers that was held in Aburi, Ghana, in January1967. Beginning as a minority of one in a Supreme Military Council with eight other members in attendance, he prevailed on the SMC, first to renounce the use of force to resolve the crisis that had brought them to Aburi; and, secondly, to agree on a confederation arrangement for governing the country until a new constitution could be agreed. Getting his colleagues to agree to the Aburi Accord was Ojukwu’s seminal contribution to Nigeria’s survival and to the security and progress of the entire population of Nigeria. However, the fruits of this fundamental contribution were not to be harvested. When the signatories returned to Nigeria, Gowon and his officials in Lagos refused to implement the terms of the Accord. This deepened the crisis and eventually provoked the secession of Eastern Nigeria and its quest for self-determination as the sovereign state of Biafra. Ojukwu: Founder and War Leader of Biafra The next great deed that Ojukwu did was to proclaim the sovereign state of Biafra on 30 May 1967. Before the new state could find its feet, Gowon, in repudiation of yet another part of the Aburi Accord, resorted to force and sent the Nigerian army to invade Biafra to bring it back into Nigeria. When the Nigeria-Biafra War began in July 1967, Ojukwu became Biafra’s war leader. He led Biafra in a just war of self defence, a war of resistance to Nigeria’s aggression, a war to defend the Biafran People’s right to self-determination and to protect their very lives. With no resources to speak of, Ojukwu still managed to organize the Biafran people and the Biafran Army to resist the Nigerian invaders for 30 harrowing months until Biafra fell and surrendered in January 1970. In those 30 months, Ojukwu did two other great deeds. To sustain the struggle, he mobilized the scientific manpower of Biafra into the Science and Technology Group (S&T Group) that achieved great things. Secondly he produced a Blueprint for a just Biafran society. Ojukwu the war leader of Biafra: Finding itself blockaded by land, sea and air, Biafra had to be self-reliant to survive. Its Science and Technology Group (S&T Group) rose to the challenge and, among other things, conceived and produced a type of air defence dust mine for use against MIG jet fighters. In October 1967, when Biafran troops at the Ugwuoba Bridge, near Awka. fired it horizontally on advancing Nigerian troops, its devastating effect earned it the name Ogbunigwe (mass killer). On March 31, 1968, a Biafran army unit ambushed and, using Ogbunigwe, destroyed a 96-vehicle column of Nigerian soldiers. The humiliating Abagana defeat to Nigerian soldiers prompted General Yakubu Gowon to remove Col. Murtala Mohammed as the General Commanding Officer of the Onitsha sector. In addition, Biafran engineers built airports and roads; designed and built petroleum refineries; designed and built light and heavy equipment. Biafra’s Research and Production (RAP) unit did research on chemical weapons as well as rocket guidance systems. It invented new forms of explosives, and tried new forms of food processing technology. The Biafra coastline was lined with home-made shore batteries and with remote controlled weapons systems and bombs. Under Ojukwu’s leadership, and in less than three years, a Biafra that was being starved by blockade, achieved a great leap forward in black African science and technology. [see Wikipedia article on Ojukwu] This achievement remains unique in Black Africa. In their half century of “independence” thus far, no other state in Black Africa has created any Science & Technology organization, let alone one to compare with the one created in Biafra’s 31 months existence. This Biafran achievement remains an inspirational beacon for the Black World in this 21st century. It shows that if Black African states are still not industrialized today, the fault is not in us the people, not in the stars, not in our race, but in our neo-colonialist leaders and their chronic misleadership. Ojukwu: Proponent of a New Social Order Even in the midst of war, Ojukwu encouraged the Biafran intelligentsia to investigate and articulate their people’s aspirations for their post-war society. This effort produced a document which Ojukwu presented to the nascent Biafran nation on June 1, 1969 at Ahiara village. It became known as The Ahiara Declaration .The document eloquently and totally rejected the Nigerian social order for its neo-colonialist iniquities and inequities, and outlined the principles on which a radically different and just society would be constructed in Biafra. Ojukwu’s Ahiara Declaration invites comparison with Nyerere’s Arusha Declaration as a blueprint for a just and egalitarian Black African society. Unfortunately, despite these achievements, the proposed new society was not to be. A Biafran cartoon of the period, captioned “The Truth about the Nigeria-Biafra War”, gave an accurate picture of the war situation: it showed a trio consisting of President Lyndon Johnson of the USA, Prime Minister Harold Wilson of Britain and Premier Alexei Kosygin of the USSR holding Ojukwu immobilized for Nigeria’s Gowon to use as a punching bag. Given that fundamental situation, it was no wonder that Biafra collapsed, after 30 months of fighting a just war. And to save him from almost certain execution by vengeful Nigerian soldiers, Ojukwu’s followers packed him off to exile in Cote d’Ivoire in January 1970, in the expectation that he would live to fight for them another day. Ojukwu, the war leader of a defeated Biafra, spent 12 years in exile before he was pardoned and allowed to return to Nigeria in 1982. He arrived to a tumultuous hero’s welcome by his people and he plunged into Nigerian politics to champion the struggle for improvement in the hard lot of his defeated people. Alleviating the condition of Ndi-Igbo within Nigeria became his mission until his death in 2011. To do that he joined the NPN, the governing party of that time, and contested for a seat in the Nigerian senate. However, after a vigorous election campaign, he was declared defeated. Undaunted, he continued to be a voice for Ndi-Igbo in Nigerian affairs despite a stint as a political detainee during the Buhari period. In 1994-1995, at the Abacha Constitutional Conference in Abuja, the Ndi-Igbo contingent, led jointly by Ojukwu and a former Vice President of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekwueme, introduced and persuaded the Conference to adopt the concept of six geo-political zones in which the 36 states of Nigeria are now aggregated. In 2003, Ojukwu joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and became its Presidential candidate in the 2003 and 2007 elections. This was all in a further effort to give Ndi-Igbo a suitable presence in Nigerian politics and to promote the interests of Ndi-Igbo within Nigeria. Ojukwu the APGA presidential candidate. Former Biafra leader Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu (L) who emerged as the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)’s presidential aspirant for 2007 elections after their national convention in Enugu is pictured with Chief Victor Ume, APGA Chairman and Mrs Virgy Etiaba, Deputy Governor of Anambra State during the APGA convention held in Enugu, Nigeria, 04 December 2006. (Nwakamma/AFP/Getty Images) Ojukwu and PRONACO In the continuing search for a peaceful and better Nigeria, Ojukwu was among the leaders of thought who, in 2005-2006, in consultation with Chief Anthony Enahoro, initiated the Peoples’ National Conference through the platform of the Pro National Conference Organizations (PRONACO) –an alliance of 164 ethnic organizations that believed that a Sovereign National Conference ( SNC) had become imperative for transforming Nigeria and ending its people’s woes. That People’s National Conference, which was a comprehensive revalidation of the Aburi Accord by the ethnic nationalities, produced a Draft People’s Constitution which has been overwhelmingly endorsed across Nigeria as a credible path to a sustainable basis for Nigeria’s survival. As the conference rotated its sittings across various geo-political locations (including Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Jos and Kano) Ojukwu hosted that conference twice in Enugu, in February and in March 2006. Ojukwu at home with his wife, Bianca. Upon the conclusion of the conference, Ojukwu actively mobilized for the informal referendum to which the Draft People’s Constitution was subjected, resulting in its endorsement by various ethnic blocs. As a part of the process for actualizing this written wish of the peoples of Nigeria, Ojukwu volunteered to be one of the plaintiffs, alongside Wole Soyinka, Anthony Enahoro and Bankole Oki, in a lawsuit before the Federal High Court, Lagos, challenging the legitimacy of the 1999 constitution. This is Suit No. FHC/L/CS/558/09. It is still in court till today. The suit is to dismantle the fraudulent and military-imposed constitution of 1999 and make space for a new order. All of this shows that while Ojukwu contended for a place within the Nigerian political space, by joining the NPN and running for the senate in1983, by participating in Abacha’s Constitutional Conference in 1994-1995, and then by joining APGA and running twice for President on the APGA ticket, he devoted even more energy towards resolving the fundamental distortions that have brought Nigeria to the dark valley where it is languishing. That, in brief, is an outline of the life and struggles of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. Ojukwu: Unfinished business No person dies or leaves office without leaving behind some unfinished business. Hero that he was, Ojukwu is no exception. There is the business of transforming Nigeria, a project which is being ably carried on by his younger PRONACO colleagues. While that project is for the benefit of all Nigerians, there is another unfinished business of his which concerns Ndi-Igbo exclusively. Let me now draw your attention to it. Ojukwu did not finish the vital business of creating an institutional embodiment of the Ndi-Igbo nation, a paramount cultural-political institution for Ndi-Igbo, their counterpart of what the Ooni of Ife is for the Yoruba; and the Asentehene is for the Ashanti of Ghana; and the Kabaka is for the Baganda of Uganda; the Sultan of Sokoto is for Shariyaland, a.k.a. Nigeria’s Far North or Arewa. Or take the example of what the Dalai Lama institution is for the Tibetans, namely, a central focus of Tibetan cultural identity, a symbolic embodiment of the Tibetan national character. Such are the cultural and non-partisan institutions to which a people all give their allegiance and look to for decisive guidance in their affairs. By joining the NPN and entering partisan politics on his return from exile in 1982, Ojukwu skipped his chance to become the nucleus of a neutral institutional arbiter in the world of Ndi-Igbo. However, he made a belated attempt to correct his error, but did not succeed. His Eze Igbo Gburugburu title, with its notion of monarchy, was probably in the wrong cultural idiom for Igbo republicanism to accept, and so it never gathered widespread or deep acquiescence. With Ojukwu’s joining of the ancestors, the task of creating this sorely needed paramount institution, and in some effective and culturally appropriate form, is now left for the next generation of Ndi-Igbo, and especially for the leadership cadres that will emerge among them. And it is for the elders of today to guide them to accomplish that vital task. Ojukwu is physically dead, but for as long as we keep fresh our memories of his deeds, the legend lives on. Let me sum up: At the age of 11, Ojukwu burst onto the scene as a defender of black people when he physically defended a black African woman from humiliation by a white colonial racist teacher. Then at age 33 he became the warrior defender of all Eastern Nigerians when they came under mass murderous attack by their fellow Nigerians. Then after the collapse of Biafra he settled into the role of political warrior defending Ndi-Igbo in the neocolonial dungeon called Nigeria. By the example of his deeds, the Ojukwu legend will live on wherever people, and black people especially, look for an inspiring role model of selfless defence of the humiliated and oppressed; or for a model of when an injured and defenceless people must say “enough is enough” and embark on a struggle for self determination; or for model leadership for scientific and technological advancement; or for a model of how to obtain a Blueprint for a just and equitable social order. Ojukwu: The People’s Assessment. Let me end this assessment of Ojukwu’s life by quoting some excerpts from what ordinary Nigerians said of Ojukwu after his death, on a website discussing the seminal Aburi Accord: “Aburi can again help us avoid another Biafra. MIDDLE BELT people are clearly being pushed & provoked without cause.” “Love him or hate him, he was one politician that stole no money- check the records. Adieu, Lion of the Tribe of Biafra!” “Ojukwu is gone but his life is full of lessons for us to learn: He stood for the truth, fought for the truth and in truth he died. He saw what others could not see – self determination of his people. It took another 40 years for Nigerians to latch on – clamouring for autonomy.” “We will miss your courage and hatred for injustice. You gave your all for the emancipation of your people.” “He was distinct, patriotic and fearless. He was synonymous with justice and equity. He distanced himself from the pandemic corruption that has ravaged prominent politicians of his time.” “He was able to tell us that you can be rich and principled, you can be rich and honest, you can be rich and be a friend of the poor, you can be rich and be a friend of the needy, you can be rich and sacrifice for humanity, you can be rich and remain modest. The list is endless. Ojukwu used his money to pursue people’s course, while our present day thieves we call rulers use our money to persecute us, can you see the difference?” “Though you are dead, your fighting spirit is still alive to actualise your dreams, and your children in their generation will immortalise and celebrate you in their new nation.” And to that, permit me to add my voice and say: Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu! Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu! Ikemba Nnewi, Laa n’udo! Ikemba Nnewi, Go in peace! Eze-agha Ndi Biafra War chief of Biafra Dike n’aluru ndi ike adighi ogu Champion who fights for those without strength Onye nchedo ndi an’emegbu emegbu Protector of the exploited Onye n’ebulite onodu onye an’eleli eleli The one who raises the status of the despised Laa n’udo, Ikemba, Laa n’udo! Go in peace, Ikemba, Go in peace! Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/02/ojukwu-tribute-from-chinweizu/

Politics

en

Graphene is incredibly thin and light, and prevents all but the smallest molecules from passing through it (it's an excellent water filter, for example). Condoms, though an excellent barrier against unwanted contaminants, are neither thin nor light -- which is why they reduce sensation, and why some people really don't like wearing them. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, realizing the world would be a better place if more people liked wearing condoms, has thus decided to fund research into thin, pleasure-enhancing graphene condoms. Graphene, as you know, is incredibly thin and strong -- but you might not know that it also happens to be the most thermally conductive solid material in the world (only superfluid helium has better conductivity). Furthermore, graphene seems to be impermeable to everything but water. All of these factors combine to make graphene the perfect material for condoms that are incredibly safe, and yet so thin, light, and thermally conductive that it's almost like you're not wearing a condom at all. Graphene aerogel, balancing on the spines of a plantOf course, in reality, it's not actually feasible to create condoms from pure graphene. Pure graphene is transparent and just one atom thick -- not exactly ideal properties for a condom that needs to be slipped on in the heat of passion. Rather, the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester has been awarded a $100,000 grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop composite materials that can be fashioned into condoms that are more desirable than today's range of thick and sensation-free latex and polyurethane condoms. The University of Manchester in England is where graphene was first isolated, using the famous "mechanical exfoliation... with sticky tape!" method. Historically, when we speak about graphene, it's nearly always been in the context of electronics. Given its superior electrical conductivity (the best in the world), thinness (sheets that are just a single atom thick), and other exotic properties, graphene could revolutionize the fabrication of computer chips and other electronic components. As we hinted at earlier in the story, though, graphene's properties also make it an exceptionally strong candidate for other applications, such as water filtration and anti-corrosion coatings. On the small scale, graphene composites can be used to make condoms -- but on the larger scale, graphene and graphene composites might allow for the creation of crazy, gravity-defying buildings or vehicles that weigh just a fraction of their current steel-and-aluminium incarnations. "If this project is successful, we might have [an everyday] use which will literally touch our everyday life in the most intimate way," says Aravind Vijayaraghavan who will lead the Manchester researchers. There's no timeline on the creation of graphene condoms, but it'll be at least a few years. The Gates Foundation awarded grants of $100,000 to 11 condom research groups in total, including the Rapidom (pictured above) -- a condom that can be applied in a single action (the wrapper acts as easy-hold grips) -- and a San Diego team that's working on a condom that's imbued with collagen fibrils, harvested from cow tendons, for a "more natural sensation." The end goal, of course, is to offer the world a more desirable tool for reducing the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases, or for family planning reasons. Now read: Do humans dream of android prostitutes?

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/171417-bill-gates-funds-creation-of-thin-light-impenetrable-graphene-condoms?

Health

en

‘The curious case of Benjamin Mouse’: Aging reversal coming soon? Mice have become the first creatures to experience the ‘Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ for real, as Australian and American scientists have managed to literally reverse their ageing process. And they say humans could be next in line. The discovery is centered on a compound that is like a youth elixir, targeting and reversing muscle aging, building up muscle tone and reducing inflammation and giving mice more energy – as if they have been working out in the gym. Likewise, resistance to insulin was targeted, adding diabetes to an already impressive list of age-related diseases that could soon be fought, like neurodegenerative conditions and cancers. The resulting research was published in the journal Cell on December 20. "I've been studying aging at the molecular level now for nearly 20 years and I didn't think I'd see a day when aging could be reversed. I thought we'd be lucky to slow it down a little bit," said Professor David Sinclair, of the University of New South Wales. He was the leader of the study, working from Harvard Medical School in the United States. The research was tested on 6-month-old and 22-monthold old mice, comparing first how aging occurred in general, then testing the new compound on the older mice to see if the “youth potion” worked. An explanation as to how and why aging occurs can be seen in the levels of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) in the nucleus and in the mitochondria, which begin to differ with age. These levels encode genetic information around a cell. The mitochondria are where all the hard work takes place. All mammals create energy in the way that small molecules are created when larger ones break down, and energy is released. Skeletal muscle respiration is the result of this, and its swift functioning is key to age reversal, researchers explain. "We have chromosomes that we all know about, we call it our genome, but there's other DNA that we often don't think about - the mitochondrial DNA that we get from our mothers… what we found is that during aging these two genomes, the chromosomes, don't talk to each other,” Sinclair said, comparing the two to an aging married couple. Although a lot of the information is carried by the mitochondria, some functions responsible for muscular respiration are encoded in information stored in the nucleus. Therefore, a balanced and coordinated functioning of both is essential, as with age it begins to fail, like a telephone call interrupted by static. The levels of mRNA in the mitochondria declined in the older ones. And the same was noticed for proteins called SIRT-1 and another one produced by the nucleus, whose levels are connected with a higher lifespan. The healthy coordination between the nucleus and the mitochondria were found to lie directly in the amount of those proteins – especially SIRT-1: the higher the levels, the slower the aging. However, a bigger problem was found to lay in the so-called NAD+ molecule, its levels in the nucleus. But scientists could not account for how exactly it kept SIRT-1 levels up. Its own levels simply dwindled with age. "When we're young, we have the high levels of NAD and if we exercise and diet, the levels of this NAD molecule are high in our body… but as we get older, and as these mice in our experiments got older, the levels went down about 50 per cent and then we could give this drug to bring the levels back up again." To try and cheat mice organisms into producing more SIRT-1, the scientists injected the 22-month old mice with nicotinamide mono nucleotide (NMN) – a molecule directly responsible for the levels of NAD, which conversely is known to lead to an increase in SIRT-1. The experiment worked. Professor Sinclair was astonished, telling Cell that “the mice had more energy, their muscles were as though they'd be exercising and it was able to mimic the benefits of diet and exercise just within a week.” As a result, human trials appear not to be far off. "We think that should be able to keep people healthier for longer and keep them from getting diseases of aging," Sinclair continued, adding that the diseases we have come to expect of old age have been drastically reversed in mice: muscle atrophy dropped, and so did inflammations – which lead to arthritis. And the most important muscle in the body – the heart – simply reversed in age as a result. All this happened in just one week. And the startling results have scientists seriously considering human trials within the next year, as Sinclair himself confirms that they would like to make the compound available commercially soon. Of course without rigorous testing on humans, this is not yet a possibility, but the professor has set up a company dedicated to just that. It is no easy task, as the costs are projected to be in the millions. But so far, money is the only challenge, so we may as well start to get ready to live longer, given what we have just learned.

http://rt.com/news/mice-humans-age-reverse-551/

Health

en

One man, one woman Does the Bible really teach monogamy? Origin of marriage The clearest evidence that monogamy is God’s ideal is from Christ’s teaching on marriage in Matthew 19:3–6. In this passage, He cited the Genesis creation account, in particular Genesis 1:27 and 2:24, saying “the two will become one flesh”, not more than two. Another important biblical teaching is the parallel of husband and wife with Christ and the Church in Ephesians 5:22–33, which makes sense only with monogamy—Jesus will not have multiple brides. The 10th Commandment “You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife [singular] … ” (Exodus 20:17) also presupposes the ideal that there is only one wife. Polygamy is expressly forbidden for church elders (1 Timothy 3:2). And this is not just for elders, because Paul also wrote: “each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2). Paul goes on to explain marital responsibilities in terms that make sense only with one husband to one wife. The example of godly people is also important. Isaac and Rebekah were monogamous—they are often used as a model in Jewish weddings today. Other examples were Joseph and Asenath, and Moses and Zipporah. And the only survivors of the Flood were four monogamous couples. Polygamy’s origins and consequences It is very important to remember that not everything recorded in the Bible is approved in the Bible. Consider where polygamy originated—first in the line of the murderer Cain, not the line of Seth. The first recorded polygamist was the murderer Lamech (Genesis 4:23–24). Then Esau, who despised his birthright, also caused much grief to his parents by marrying two pagan wives (Genesis 26:34). God also forbade the kings of Israel to have “many wives” (Deuteronomy 17:17). Look at the trouble when Israel’s kings disobeyed, including deadly sibling rivalry between David’s sons from his different wives (2 Samuel 13, 1 Kings 2); and Solomon’s hundreds of wives helped lead Solomon to idolatry (1 Kings 11:1–3). What about godly men who were polygamous? Abraham and Sarah would have been monogamous apart from a low point in their faith when Hagar became a second wife—note how much strife this caused later with Ishmael and Isaac and their descendants to this day (Genesis 16, 21). Jacob wanted only Rachel, but was tricked into marrying her older sister Leah, and later he took their slave girls at the sisters’ urging, due to the rivalry between the sisters. Jacob was hardly at a spiritual high point at those times, and neither was David when he added Abigail and Ahinoam (1 Samuel 25:42–43). Also, Hannah, Samuel’s mother, was humiliated by her husband Elkanah’s other wife Peninnah because of Hannah’s previous barrenness (1 Samuel 1:1–7). Why did God seem to allow it, then? God’s permitting of polygamy seems more like the case of divorce, which God tolerated for a while under certain conditions because of the hardness of their hearts. But it was not the way it was intended from the beginning (Matthew 19:8). Whenever the Mosaic law had provisions for polygamy, it was always the conditional: “If he takes another wife to himself … ” (Exodus 21:10), never an encouragement. God put a number of obligations on the husband towards the additional wives, which would discourage polygamy. In view of the problems it causes, it is no wonder that polygamy was unknown among the Jews after the Babylonian exile, and monogamy was the rule even among the Greeks and Romans by New Testament times. Comments are automatically closed 14 days after publication.

http://creation.mobi/monogamy-bible-one-man-woman

Romance

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Ortelius’ Africa—One of the Most Influential Maps of the Continent of Africa Finely colored example of Ortelius' map of Africa, from Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas. The map was one of the first widely-disseminated, modernized maps of Africa and it became the standard map of the continent until well into the seventeenth century. This map of Africa is based on Gastaldi's eight-sheet wall map of 1564 and Mercator's world map of 1569. It shows the entire continent of Africa, with Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula, and the tip of Brazil. The continent is split into political units, including Nubia and Zanzibar. Mountains and rivers are indicated, as are hundreds of settlements marked with a small building symbol. Most of the decorative elements are contained within the surrounding seas. Swordfish and a morose whale swim in the Atlantic. The large title cartouche is also in the Atlantic. The frame is flanked by two female statues belted in place, with the text Africae tabula nova filling the interior space. In the bottom right corner, a fierce battle is taking place, with parts of the ships obscured by smoke from broadsides. A similar, reversed scene is included on Diego Guttiérez’s map of the Americas of 1562. The main branch of the Nile is sourced from two lakes at roughly the same latitude. The larger of these rivers is also the source for the Zuama and Zaire Rivers. The former, which is also a name for the Zambezi River, branches into the Spiritu Sant, which is supposedly the Limpopo River. All the rivers are amalgamated here, reflecting the common Medieval belief that most continents had a central lake which gave rise to the largest rivers of the landmass. Farther north, the Niger River rises from Lake Niger. The map is significant for several reasons, including its place in the history of cartography of the African continent, its depiction of Central Africa and its rivers, and its inclusion in the first modern atlas. The early mapping of the African continent Medieval mapping of the African continent was tied to the Christian worldview. Traditionally, the known world of Antiquity, which included the north of Africa, Asia, and Europe, was arranged symbolically in what is known as a T-O map. Such world images were common in Medieval manuscripts and they show the three landmasses in a T shape with an O, the ocean, surrounding them. The T-O maps are east-oriented—Paradise and Eden were supposedly located to the east—and some have Jerusalem at their center. Europe is in the bottom left corner and Africa the bottom right. Over the course of the Medieval period, mappaemundi on the T-O model were increasingly stuffed with new place names and features, particularly those mentioned in the popular travel narratives of Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville. From roughly 1200, portolan charts showed increasing portions of the African coast. Meant for maritime navigation, these charts contained little to no information about the interior of the continent. They did, however, reflect the advancement of European, particularly Portuguese ships south along on the west coast of Africa. The culmination of these voyages was in 1498, when Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached the Indian subcontinent. Da Gama’s forging of an all-water route to India was particularly illuminating when compared with the prevailing geographic theories of the day, which were dominated by work of the second-century AD Alexandrian scholar, Claudius Ptolemy. Ptolemy postulated in his famous work, Geographia, that the Indian Ocean was enclosed by land which stretched from the south of Africa to southeast Asia. Early modern scholars were already questioning Ptolemy, however, even before da Gama reached India. For example, the Fra Mauro map has a peninsular southern Africa with a waterway flowing around it. Early printed editions of Ptolemy—the first with maps was printed in 1477 in Bologna—would increasingly include tabula nova, or new maps, which supplemented Ptolemy’s ideas with more modern observations. The first edition to include the Portuguese discoveries in Africa was the Rome edition of 1508. The first surviving printed map to include the discoveries was the earlier Contarini-Roselli world map of 1506, the only surviving example of which is at the British Library. Martin Waldseemuller’s 1507 world map, the sole example of which is now at the Library of Congress, also shows the revised version of the continent. Additionally, Waldseemuller included the new discoveries in his Africa maps for an edition of Ptolemy published in 1513. The first modern map of the entire African continent was in Sebastian Munster’s edition of the Geographia published in 1540. After Munster, this Ortelius map was the first widely-distributed map of the continent and it would popularize the ideas of Giacomo Gastaldi, his main source. Gastaldi lived in Venice and had collaborated with Ramusio on his famous travel collection, which gave Gastaldi access to the latest geographic knowledge. In his important, yet not widely distributed, 1564 map of Africa, Gastaldi corrected the southwest coast, which was typically sloped too steeply. He also introduced a novel depiction of the sources of Africa’s rivers, which will be discussed below. Finally, he drastically increased the number of place names included: 655 names along the coast and a whopping 1200 in the interior. Ortelius retained many of these place names, although he shifted some to new locations. In some cases, as with the names of lakes, he largely used his own names. He also scaled down the level of ornamentation and decoration drastically as compared to the 1564 map. Ortelius also corrected Gastaldi by narrowing the point of the Cape of Good Hope and reduced the extension of the continent to the east. These adjustments made Ortelius’ map far closer to the actual east-west, north-south size of the continent; it was the most accurate map of Africa to date. The cartography of Central Africa The innovative depiction of the African river systems in Gastaldi and Ortelius are notable for their divergence from previous models and for their importance as a model for future mapmakers. Typically, mapmakers thought the Nile River rose from twin lakes south of the equator, which were near the Mountains of the Moon. Streams from the mountains fed the lakes. Ptolemy describes such a lakes-and -mountains layout in his works, although the precise identification of the Mountains of the Moon may have been a fourth century addition to his text. Sixteenth century mapmakers, including Waldseemuller, chose to follow the Ptolemaic model. This was typical of cartographers at the time, who had abandoned Ptolemy’s coastlines in favor of the more recent Portuguese outlines yet who also clung to Ptolemaic place names for the interior of Africa well into the nineteenth century. Gastaldi, most likely thanks to sources he read via Ramusio, chose to abandon the Mountains of the Moon entirely. Instead, he drew a massive central lake from which flows the Nile, Zaire (Congo), Cuama (Zambezi), and Spirito Sancto (Limpopo) Rivers. To the east is another, smaller lake at roughly the same latitude, which also feeds part of the Nile. Therefore, Gastaldi created an entirely different view of the interior of Central Africa, while still embracing Ptolemy’s twin lakes theory. Ortelius here also includes a large central lake, called Cafates. He rejected the name of Zaire-Zembere used by Gastaldi. To the east and just slightly north is another, smaller lake. Rivers from the north of both lakes wend northward and join to form the Nile. The Zaire (Congo) flows from the northeast of Lake Cafates, while the Zuama (Zambezi) exits at the south of the lake. It branches into the Spiritu Sant, or the Limpopo. Thus, one lake gives rise to four of the largest rivers in Africa. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum and the states of the “Africae tabula nova” In 1570, Ortelius published the first modern atlas; that is, a set of uniform maps with supporting text gathered in book form. Previously, there were other bound map collections, specifically, the Italian Lafreri atlases, but these were sets of maps—not necessarily uniform—selected and bound together on demand. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Ortelius’ atlas, outperformed competing atlases from other cartographic luminaries like the Mercator family. Between 1570 and 1612, 31 editions of the atlas were published in seven languages. At the time of its publication, it was the most expensive book ever produced. This map first appeared in the very first 1570 atlas and was engraved by Frans Hogenberg. Only one copperplate was used for this map over its entire publishing career of 1570 to 1612. However, it was re-engraved several times. In 1595, a crack began over the title that worked its way down the text over the following years. The crack can be seen on this example. The map is hugely important to the history of cartography of Africa. It was the major cartographic influence in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and part of the first modern atlas. It should be a central part of any collection of African maps. Abraham Ortelius is perhaps the best known and most frequently collected of all sixteenth-century mapmakers. Ortelius started his career as a map colorist. In 1547 he entered the Antwerp guild of St Luke as afsetter van Karten. His early career was as a business man, and most of his journeys before 1560, were for commercial purposes. In 1560, while traveling with Gerard Mercator to Trier, Lorraine, and Poitiers, he seems to have been attracted, largely by Mercator’s influence, towards a career as a scientific geographer. From that point forward, he devoted himself to the compilation of his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the World), which would become the first modern atlas. In 1564 he completed his “mappemonde", an eight-sheet map of the world. The only extant copy of this great map is in the library of the University of Basel. Ortelius also published a map of Egypt in 1565, a plan of Brittenburg Castle on the coast of the Netherlands, and a map of Asia, prior to 1570. On May 20, 1570, Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum first appeared in an edition of 70 maps. By the time of his death in 1598, a total of 25 editions were published including editions in Latin, Italian, German, French, and Dutch. Later editions would also be issued in Spanish and English by Ortelius’ successors, Vrients and Plantin, the former adding a number of maps to the atlas, the final edition of which was issued in 1612. Most of the maps in Ortelius' Theatrum were drawn from the works of a number of other mapmakers from around the world; a list of 87 authors is given by Ortelius himself In 1573, Ortelius published seventeen supplementary maps under the title of Additamentum Theatri Orbis Terrarum. In 1575 he was appointed geographer to the king of Spain, Philip II, on the recommendation of Arias Montanus, who vouched for his orthodoxy (his family, as early as 1535, had fallen under suspicion of Protestantism). In 1578 he laid the basis of a critical treatment of ancient geography with his Synonymia geographica (issued by the Plantin press at Antwerp and republished as Thesaurus geographicus in 1596). In 1584 he issued his Nomenclator Ptolemaicus, a Parergon (a series of maps illustrating ancient history, sacred and secular). Late in life, he also aided Welser in his edition of the Peutinger Table (1598).

https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/64869/africae-tabula-nova-orteliushttp://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b77595185.r=Benin?rk=21459

Culture

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European & Arab Ancient Trade War On Africans Continues Where are the children of the Zulu, Ashanti and Yoruba that stood down the British and fought gallantly against domineering the trade routes in Africa? It has been postulated for a long time by a few historians that religious capture of Africa was not by force but by persuasion or gentle religious conversions. Actually, nothing can be further from the truth over centuries. African Economic and Trade negotiators need a touch of history not by miseducation or threat of war. This is why Africans accept Structural Adjustment: devaluation of African currencies in countries with more gold reserves than foreign gold standard. It is no more only the Europeans and Arabs; but Americans, Russians and Asians are now principals and competing partners for the rush into African resources. By exchanging it almost for nothing paid in Zimbabwe dollars. The motivation of the Moroccan Army in the ancient invasion of Songhai was for the same economic greed to convert resources that had been exposed by Christian Muslims missionaries and our Emperors. One of the ancient trade routes for kola nuts and of course gold from Ashanti and Oyo regions into Gao opened before that of Oyo, Hausa States and Timbuktu route. Africa traded with one another horizontally in The Rainforest as freemen before contemporary notion as slaves sold vertically to the Middle East, Europe and Americas. Their presence was known and recorded in various terms by Herodotus, Ibn Battuta and later by Ahmed Baba. These Emperors and kings were what the British and Moroccan Army met, destroyed and whitewashed (as Hamitic). Chaka Zulu extraordinary accomplishment with locally made weapons, obliterated 1500 British soldiers and defeated their Army at Isandhlwana. This was the greatest triumph of an African Army against Europeans in sub-Saharan Africa. But then, the British always sought vengeance. The British never gave up, they had to send for reinforcement from home and locals, employed African soldiers against Africans to buoy their troops. In 1789 the British eventually defeated the Zulu at the Battle of Ulundi. In order to prevent more starvation of his people, the Zulu king ordered his warriors to stop fighting. British always use protectorate for self-economic interest. Ashanti forces in 1873, also surrounded the British protectorate that was too close for comfort, invaded and subdued them. After this remarkable initial success, the British forced Ashanti to retreat. The attempt to negotiate a peaceful resolution was rejected by the British commander, Sir Garnet Wolseley. In January 1874 a large British Army with African soldiers led by Wolseley fought into Ashanti land. They captured Kumasi, the Ashanti capital, ruined and set it ablaze. Jaja of Opobo that was one of the first African nationalist bypassing the British as middlemen to establish independent trade route to Europe as an indigenous produce export trader; used his influence and wealth from the palm oil trade to grab enormous political and military power. He was so powerful, in 1875 the British sought his Army’s help to prosecute the Ashanti War. Queen Victoria rewarded him with a sword of honor (Fajana and Biggs 1976:138). Appreciation for helping to put down his Ashanti brothers’ struggle against the British that came to divide African trade for the British. Today, rewards are from London School of Economics and Harvard. Contrasting Jaja and Nana with their contemporaries such as Sultan Attahiru of Sokoto, Oba Ovonramwen of Benin and Awujale Aboki Tunwase of Ijebuland, to mention but a few, fought relentlessly to defend the corporate existence and political sovereignties of their respective kingdoms. If open aggression failed then, Structural Adjustment and Devaluation are worse. Ironically, when the Yoruba in Ilorin wanted to subjugate their fellow Yoruba, they sought the help of some Fulani that backfired on them. They provoked united Yoruba Army led by Ibadan, halted at Oshogbo by soundly routing enemies out, to shambles. Surviving Fulani mercenaries were released back to their enclaves while their Ilorin Yoruba leaders were beheaded in Oyo. Indeed, when the Ijebu fought the British, if the Yoruba had united their Army the same way they did against Ilorin and their mercenaries at Oshogbo, to support their own blood and kin; Yoruba land could have been liberated from European Army’s devilish economic interest. Most Africans do not realize we spend disproportional part of our income buying ammunition from super powers that we can make ourselves in Africa. Countries like South Africa, Iran and India make their own. Actually, Iran did bluff that unlike Saudi Arabia, Iran don’t have to depend on the super powers for arms. So more African countries can start making their own arms too. Even Vice Admiral Michael Franken, Deputy Commander of Operations for US Africa Command (AFRICOM) that was at Fletcher Maritime Studies Program in the School of Government at Harvard in March 2017, wondered how Nigeria could possibly afford to buy the type of fighter jet requested to fight Boko Haram when it would take up most of its budget. The same money could be used to produce their own, fortify soldiers, for food, infrastructure and education. Usually, there are agreements in place with super powers that restrict buyers. Their fighter jets or advanced warships must not be retrofitted, adapted or produce spare parts locally. A country like Iran and others have violated each of these. Indeed, Russia and China copy US made fighters when available to them, through third parties or when bought directly. They then violate all the agreements that came with each. There is always the fear of one African ethnic domination over the other if manufacturing plant is located in one region. However, these plants can be divided into different locations so that they can create a balance just like the refineries of crude oil or industrial farms. If it is highly secretive, it can still be built in a central location, easily accessible to the whole country. Mind you, nobody is agitating for arms factory instead of food and consumer goods factories. Indeed, in a civilized world, neither super powers nor developing countries should champion arm production race. It only appeals to our animalistic instinct to dominate one another by force since the days of bow and arrows. Human, resort to force when our mental faculties have gone ballistic and we could not negotiate a peace or trade treaty. Instead of peaceful trade worldwide, we have skewed, unfair and unbalanced trade that favor the most powerful countries. Each time they negotiate with poor or developing countries, they always weld a big stick bragging they would “bomb the hell” out of us. As developing countries, Africa has hardly got a fair shake since the ancient times when we dominated the gold, salt and kolanut market. Nevertheless, as chivalry, guns and bombs replaced and dominated the trade route, peaceful trade faded in favor of domineering empires looking to capture natural resources and slaves. The more Africans resigned themselves to superior fire threats, the more their religious and domineering cultures entrenched themselves. They came to repress and dislodge our own civilization and replaced it with theirs, as peaceful co-existence within their protectorates.

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/274836/european-arab-ancient-trade-war-on-africans-continues.html#

Culture

en

Many people still think that ‘light’ skin is somehow tremendously different from ‘dark skin’, in spite of the scientific evidence that shows overwhelming biological similarity among all the people of the world. However, over the past several decades, sophisticated studies of human skin pigmentation using special stains and the electron microscope have shown that the differences in skin pigmentation among the so-called races of mankind are only very minor. A world-renowned authority in clinical dermatology, Dr Anthony du Vivier at London's King's College Hospital, accurately sums up present scientific knowledge on the subject: “There are the same number of melanocytes [pigment-forming cells] to be found in both Negroid and Caucasian skin.”1 Other experts agree; the differences in colouration arise from the way in which melanin (the dark pigment found in the skin of all people) is packaged. The melanosomes (tiny melanin-packaging units) are slightly larger and more numerous per cell in dark-skinned than light-skinned people. They also do not degrade as readily, and disperse into adjacent skin cells to a higher degree.2,3 [2017 update: CMI speaker and biologist Rob Carter shows how the latest research confirms what creationists have long been saying about skin colour ... It is, literally, only skin deep.] This means that the differences are at a subcellular level; that is, there are minor variations in very minute areas, called organelles, residing in the pigment cells. These variations are under the control of the normal principles of genetics. Genetic information in people has been constructed by the Creator so as to allow a remarkable capacity to vary the pigmentation of the skin and hair. Actually, skin and hair colour result from the relative levels of two types of melanin pigment: the dark-brown pigment discussed above, and a reddish version of the pigment. All people produce the red pigment, but red-headed people lack the ability to produce normal levels of the dark pigment. This is now thought to be due to a mutation in one of the genes involved in pigment manufacture in the skin cells.4 Not only do red-heads lack the ability to produce much protective dark pigment, but their red pigment reacts directly with sunlight to produce chemicals which cause damage to their DNA, which leads to skin cancer. Red-heads must therefore be doubly careful in their exposure to the sun. Red hair may be beautiful, but the condition almost certainly arose from a mutation causing the loss of ability to produce dark pigment. Eve was not a red-head! Genes for skin colours The family which survived the Flood would have to have had sufficient genetic variability to account for the full range of normal skin colours in their descendants—thus they would have likely had middle-brown skin. Such people would have had a mixture of genes which code for light and dark skin — giving them brown skin. When the genes for light skin came together in their children they would be lighter in colour than their parents; when genes for dark skin came together the children would be darker than their parents. The red-head condition almost certainly arose some time later. It took an event like the confusion of languages and the resultant dispersion at Babel to break humanity into smaller separated groups. Because each group would have been much smaller than the entire population, each would therefore have had less ability to vary than the original population and so would have had a more consistent skin colour. Social preferences could also have developed with discrimination against variant skin types for marriage, resulting in even more consistent skin colour developing. People living in tropical areas could have realized that light skin was detrimental to health (and ability to work in the sun) and so persons with light skin would come to be seen as undesirable candidates for marriage. Conversely, people living at high latitudes could have developed discrimination against dark skin because of its association with rickets in the low-light environments. For a long time, evolutionists held that the visible differences between groups of people arose through long time periods in which they were isolated from each other. This teaching has given rise to many racist ideas, as it implies that one group may have evolved more slowly than another, and thus be somehow less human. If true, it would also suggest that the differences were biologically substantial. From the Bible's account of man's origins one would predict, on the other hand, that even the seemingly obvious differences between various groups would be biologically trivial, which is exactly what we find in all respects. The accompanying series of photographs of skin taken through an ordinary light microscope should dispel the notion that there are any radical differences between ‘black’ and ‘white’ skin. Fig. 1 is a low magnification view of skin from a 32-year-old with so-called Caucasoid, or ‘white’ skin. There is little visible pigment at the boundary between the dermis (D) and the epidermis (E). Fig. 2 is a higher magnification view of the same sort of skin. Little pigment is visible in the epidermis, although several cells (arrowed) with a clear area (cytoplasm) around a darker central nucleus have the appearance of melanocytes (cells which produce pigment). Fig. 3 is a low magnification view of skin from a young African. There is abundant pigmentation within numerous cells in the epidermis, especially at its boundary with the dermis (arrows). Fig. 4 shows the same sort of darkly pigmented skin at the higher magnification. The arrow shows a cell which has the appearance of a melanocyte. There are innumerable granules of the pigment itself which, having been produced in one of the melanocytes, have diffused into other cells (keratinocytes), mostly those at the boundary. Even within the same individual, skin colour may change. 'White' skin can undergo an increase in pigmentation. There is of course the normal tanning response to sunlight, which increases the production of melanin. Also, in some clinical conditions 'white' skin can become virtually indistinguishable from black skin. Equally, black skin can lose pigmentation to look the same as 'white' skin. Fig. 5 looks at chronically inflamed skin from the leg of an African. On the right side (horizontal arrow) depigmentation is nearly complete. Toward the middle and left of the picture, spotty, irregular pigmentation persists (arrows). The skin colour varied in this same person from black to brown to nearly white. Fig. 6 shows skin from a ‘white’ person, from a portion affected by a disease called lentigo simplex. Almost all the cells along the boundary (see arrows) are very deeply pigmented, much as in normal skin of an African, as shown in Fig. 3. There is also a condition of deficiency of function of the adrenal gland in which the entire skin of a Caucasian can become deeply pigmented. This would have the same sort of appearance under the microscope. Melanin—a created purpose In many scientific circles, it is customary to refrain from ascribing 'purpose' to any biological feature. In the case of melanin (see main article), it is difficult to avoid appreciating its positive function. Du Vivier well states: “In addition to skin and hair coloration, melanin pigment is of extreme importance for protection against the injurious properties of ultraviolet radiation.”1 The likely middle-brown colouration of Noah's family (and before them, Adam and Eve) would have afforded good protection against moderate sun exposure. In contrast, the pigment-depleted skin of Caucasoids is so vulnerable to sun damage that Lever said: “No white person past 40 years of age has normal elastic tissue in the skin of the face.”3 Increased skin ‘ageing’, and vulnerability to various types of skin cancer are among the disadvantages for whites due to their lesser amount of melanin. This pigment is only one of the marvellous protective mechanisms that an all-wise Creator built into the information that makes up humans. Since such simple fluctuations in pigment granules can change black skin to ‘white’ skin and vice versa, this again emphasizes the trivial nature of the differences. In short, a close look at our skin is totally consistent with Paul’s famous address at Mars Hill, in which he reminded his audience of the Genesis truth that God has ‘made of one blood [i.e. from one man] all nations of men’.5 What a difference it would have made to the course of history, even in pre-Darwinian times, if people had taken the Creator’s account of our origins seriously enough to realize that we are all very closely related. References and notes - du Vivier, A., Atlas of Clinical Dermatology, Gower Medical Publishing Ltd, London, p. 23.2, 1986. Return to text. - Ackerman, A.B., Histopathologic Diagnosis of Skin Diseases, Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia, p. 44, 1978. Return to text. - Lever, W.F., and Schaumberg-Lever, G., Histopathology of the Skin, 7th edition, J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, pp. 18-20, 1990. Return to text. - Cohen, P., 'Redheads come out of the shade', New Scientist 1997:18, September 1995. Return to text. - The Holy Bible, Acts 17:26. Return to text. Comments are automatically closed 14 days after publication.

https://creation.com/skin-deep

Religion

en

A new scientific method can ‘time jump’ human skin cells back by 30 years, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge who say that they’ve reprogrammed ageing skin cells to partly restore their function to a more “youthful” state. In experiments, ageing cells became more like skin cells called fibroblasts that produce collagen, a protein that holds the body together and keeps it strong. The number of fibroblasts in human skin decreases progressively with age. These cells also become shrivelled with age. The new findings could lead to a targeted approach for treating ageing, which could “revolutionise” regenerative medicine. The new research was conducted at the University of Cambridge’s Babraham Institute, and published in the journal eLife. Dr Diljeet Gill at the Babraham Institute said: “Our results represent a big step forward in our understanding of cell reprogramming. We have proved that cells can be rejuvenated without losing their function and that rejuvenation looks to restore some function to old cells.“The fact that we also saw a reverse of ageing indicators in genes associated with diseases is particularly promising for the future of this work.” As people age, their cells’ ability to function declines and the genome – their DNA blueprint – accumulates signs of ageing. Regenerative biology aims to repair or replace cells, including old ones. One of the most important tools in regenerative biology is our ability to create “induced” stem cells. However, this process essentially wipes the cells of their function and gives them the potential to become any cell type. The new method is based on the Nobel Prize winning technique scientists use to make stem cells, pioneered by Dr Shinya Yamanaka. In 2007, Yamanaka was the first scientist to turn normal cells, which have a specific function, into stem cells which have the special ability to develop into any cell type. The full process of stem cell reprogramming takes around 50 days using four key molecules called the Yamanaka transcription factors – Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and cMyc. The new method, called ‘maturation phase transient reprogramming’, exposes cells to Yamanaka factors for just 13 days. At this point, age-related changes are removed and the cells have temporarily lost their identity. The partly reprogrammed cells were given time to grow under normal conditions, to observe whether their specific skin cell function returned. Genome analysis showed that cells had regained markers characteristic of skin cells (fibroblasts), and this was confirmed by observing collagen production in the reprogrammed cells. In the future, this research may also open up other therapeutic possibilities; the researchers observed that their method also had an effect on other genes linked to age-related diseases and symptoms. The mechanism behind the successful transient reprogramming is not yet fully understood, and is the next piece of the puzzle to explore. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/04/scientists-develop-technique-that-can-turn-back-ageing-clock-by-30-years/

Health

en

Scientists studying the lethal Ebola virus say they have found how it blocks and disables the body's ability to battle infections in a discovery that should help the search for potential cures and vaccines. In the largest and deadliest outbreak of the disease yet recorded, Ebola has killed more than 1,000 people in West Africa since March. Read: Could Ebola hit SA? A group of scientists in the United States found that Ebola carries a protein called VP24 that interferes with a molecule called interferon, which is vital to the immune response. Immune system disrupted "One of the key reasons that Ebola virus is so deadly is because it disrupts the body's immune response to the infection," said Chris Basler of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, who worked on the study. "Figuring out how VP24 promotes this disruption will suggest new ways to defeat the virus." The team, lead by Gaya Amarasinghe from Washington University School of Medicine, found that VP24 works by stopping something called "transcription factor STAT1" - which carries interferon's antiviral message - from entering the nucleus of a cell and initiating an immune response. "This study shows just how nefarious the Ebola virus can be," said Ben Neuman, a virologist at Britain's university of Reading who was not directly involved in this study. Read: Health of American doctor with Ebola improving "Ebola virus carries a small tool that intercepts the cell's distress signals, and when this happens, it disables some of the most useful machinery that our bodies have for fighting Ebola. That leaves the body with only crude defences that are less effective at stopping the virus, and end up causing much of the damage that can eventually lead to death." One of the most deadly diseases Ebola is one of the most deadly diseases known in humans and has a case fatality rate of up to 90 percent. In the current epidemic in West Africa, the virus has infected more than 1,800 people. So far, 1,013 of these have died, the vast majority in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. There are no proven treatments or vaccines to prevent Ebola, although several biotech companies and research teams have potential drugs in development. Amarasingh's team, whose work was published in the journal Cell on Wednesday, said understanding how Ebola disarms immune defences will be crucial in the development of new treatments. A World Health Organization-convened panel of experts said on Tuesday that patients infected with Ebola in the West African outbreak could be offered experimental drugs. Read: Guinea issues bushmeat warning after Ebola outbreak The WHO's panel of medical ethicists said several drugs had passed the laboratory and animal study phases of development and should be fast-tracked into clinical trials and made available for compassionate use. Ebola survivors can infect others with their sperm Ethical questions around who gets Ebola drug CDC commits more than 400 staffers to fight Ebola Image: Serious clinician from Shutterstock

http://m.news24.com/nigeria/Lifestyle/Scientists-find-how-Ebola-disables-immune-response-20140814-2

Health

en

Skin colour surprises Our writers and speakers often get asked questions about race and racism. We have developed some pretty good answers, like the fact that Adam and Eve would have been ‘middle brown’ or that skin colour is, literally, only ‘skin deep’. Biblically, there is but one ‘race’ of people, but can we explain why people look different across the world? Actually, we can. The question, “Where do the races come from?” has a new and better answer. For several years now, we have known what caused light skin colours in Eurasians.1 Genes with names like OCA2 and SLC24A5 have previously been identified among the main culprits. But what controls dark skin colour? Until recently, this has remained a bit of a puzzle. Europeans are almost all homozygous for the SLC24A5 gene, but the fact that Africans have a lot more diversity in their ‘skin colour’ genes made it difficult to pin down what causes their generally melanin-rich skin tones. This is no longer true, and the answer has nothing to do with evolution. The first-ever study on the skin colour of Africans has now been published,2,3 and the results are not what most people expected. It turns out that the genes that control both light and dark skin colours are found across the world. In other words, these variants were in the original human population before we spread across the globe. This is exciting news! It means that all people on earth really are descended from a single source population, which we believe was at Babel. And we now know why the skin of some people is much darker than others. A new variant of the MFSD12 gene has been identified in the most dark-skinned people from across the world. It acts to increase eumelanin and decrease phaeomelanin, the main pigments in human skin, hair, and eyes. Since eumelanain is darker than phaeomelanin, this explains the intense dark skin colour of the darkest people. The beautiful, melanin-rich skin of Central Africans, many people from Southern India, native Australians, and people from Island Melanesia is the same. And the light skin seen, for example, in the Khoisan people of southern Africa is caused by the same genes that causes lighter skin tones in North Africa and other places. It turns out that the ‘light’ skin colour variants are found across Africa, but they are overwhelmed by the presence of the ‘dark’ skin colour variants, so they were not noticed until geneticists sampled the genes of many people. But we have to be careful when discussing Africa. First of all, the genetics of the people of North Africa is very similar to other Mediterranean peoples and very different from the people of sub-Saharan Africa. This was even more true in ancient times.4 North African peoples are not usually dark skinned. Second, there were probably many more light-skinned Africans in East and South Africa in the past than exist today. They were displaced during what is called the ‘Bantu Expansion’.5 Bantu-speaking peoples (like the Zulus and the Lemba6) are the dominant people group across most of sub-Saharan Africa today, but they were not the first people there. Instead, as they expanded they apparently pushed out or killed off the original inhabitants.7 When one people group invades the territory of another, this usually results in a lot of genetic mixing. We have seen in the Americas, for example, the presence of many European Y chromosomes and many Native American mitochondrial DNAs among the modern, mixed population.8 The same is not true of the Bantu lands. There are vast swaths of territory with no evidence that the original people mixed with the Bantu conquerors. In other words, the first people were exterminated. Putting two-and-two together, this would have resulted in the spread of dark-skinned variants across a greater geographic area, and it happened less than 2,000 years ago. What would Adam and Eve have looked like? For many years, biblical creationists have been saying that Adam and Eve would be ‘middle brown’. Even though this was based on a lack of genetic knowledge, it turned out to be correct. Since most of the variants that affect skin, hair, and eye colour are found across the world, these must have been in the population prior to when we spread out around the world (after Babel), thus they must have been on the Ark, thus they were probably in Adam and Eve. But if you mix all these genes into one person, they would indeed have middle-brown skin and hair and brown eyes. The one caveat that we must add is that mutations have certainly happened within the human genome since creation. And, ‘colour’ genes are an easy target for mutation because colouration can be changed without killing or harming the animal or person. This is the reason why we see white polar bears, brown grizzly bears, and black bears. It is also why we see black, chocolate, and yellow Labrador retrievers. These coat-colour variations are caused by changes in the hair-colour genes of these animals—and humans have very similar genes that control skin, hair, and eye colour. No genetic basis for racism Despite what Charles Darwin and his disciples taught about human races, modern science has proven clearly that there is but one race. In fact, biblical creationists have been saying it for years, so it is nice that secular scientists have finally caught up. We can demonstrate this with a quote from a modern geneticist, Lluis Quintana-Murci: “But the genes that explain the phenotypic differences between populations only represent a tiny part of our genome, confirming once again that the concept of ‘race’ from a genetic standpoint has been abolished.”9 That quote is nearly a decade old. Here is a more recent quote from another geneticist, Sarah Tishkoff: “There is so much diversity in Africans that there is no such thing as an African race.”10 Clearly, science has come full circle. The Bible always claimed that all people were descended from Adam and Eve, and then from Noah and his family, in the recent past. Thus, the Bible clearly teaches that there is but one race of people. Modern genetics has shown this to be true. No biblical basis for racism We now know there no scientific basis for racism, but the Bible has always been clear on the subject. “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:11) If all people have equal standing before Christ, and if people from any culture or racial background can be saved, clearly there are no racial distinctions in God’s eyes. “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord. (Isaiah 59:20) That word “redeemer” is the same word used to describe Boaz in the book of Ruth. The Bible provided a way for people to have their debts paid off—a close relative could pay it in their stead. Hence, the Redeemer must be related to the people He is redeeming. It is important, then, that all people are descended from Adam! “Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45) How did the ‘last Adam’ (Jesus) become a life-giving spirit? By redeeming His people and saving them from the second death (Revelation 21:8). “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” (Ephesians 2:13-14) I don’t know about you, but this descendant of Viking and Celtic pagans is overjoyed by the fact that someone like me, who once did not know God and whose ancestors were as wicked and rebellious against Him as possible, could have that “dividing wall of hostility” taken down. I am not a descendant of Jacob. I am not closely related to David. I am not anything like close kin to Jesus. Yet, because Jesus is a descendant of Adam, he could take on the debts of another descendant of Adam, me! Where do the ‘races’ come from? So how do we explain the different people across the world? If we started with Adam and Eve, why do we not all look the same? If we all came from Noah’s family, and then out of Babel, why do we not share our looks? The answer is not all that complicated. First, we do share nearly everything. There are millions of genetic variants found across the world in all populations. Second, we do share most of the genes that affect the way we look. This is clear from this new study on African skin-colour genes. But, as people spread out from Babel, they would have done so in small groups. Large populations can hold a lot more genetic diversity than small populations. As people spread out, multiple independent genetic bottlenecks would have occurred. High levels of inbreeding would have happened in each of the resulting groups, and this would have continued for generations. This would serve to remove different genetic variants, at random, from within each of the post-Babel populations, and so each little group would be genetically different from the others. But the degree of difference depends on how small the population was, how long it stayed small, and how much they ‘interacted’ with their neighbors. All you have to do is add a little bit of mutation (to account for things like sickle cell anemia and blue eyes) to this scenario and we have a way to explain the races with no need for millions of years or common ancestry with chimpanzees. It is good science and it is good Bible. Thus, it is time to let go of old ideas of ‘race’. References and notes - Mallick, C.B. et al., The light skin allele of SLC24A5 in South Asians and Europeans shares identity by descent, PLoS Genetics 9(11):e1003912, 2013. Return to text. - Hernandez-Pacheco, N. et al., Identification of a novel locus associated with skin colour in African-admixed populations, Nature: Scientific Reports 7:44548, 2017 | doi:10.1038/srep44548. Return to text. - Gibbons, A., How Africans evolved a palette of skin tones, Science 358(6360):157–158, 2017. Return to text. - Schuenemann, V.J. et al., Ancient Egyptian mummy genomes suggest an increase of Sub-Saharan African ancestry in post-Roman periods, Nat. Comm. 8:15694, 2017. Return to text. - Tishkoff, S.A. et al., The genetic structure and history of Africans and African Americans, Science 324(5930):1035–1044, 2009. Return to text. - Wilson, J.F. and Goldstein, D.B., Consistent long-range linkage disequilibrium generated by admixture in a Bantu-Semitic hybrid population, Am. J. Human Genetics 67:926–935, 2000. Return to text. - Skoglund, P. et al., Reconstructing prehistoric African population structure, Cell 171:59–71, 2017. This was the first-ever study on ancient DNA in Africa, and the results are, therefore, a milestone in our understanding of the history of the continent. However, I thought it was more than a little insulting to call a 500-year-old African ‘iron age’ when the Europeans at the time were beginning their time of exploration and scientific discovery, or a 3,000-year old African ‘stone age’ when that was the time of King Solomon in Israel. Would anyone dare to say that the Native Americans belonged in the ‘Stone Age’ prior to 1492? Even if these terms are accepted in the academic community, it is time they were retired! Indeed, we have been advocating this for some time. Return to text. - Wang, S. et al., Geographic patterns of genetic admixture in Latin America, PLoS Genetics 4(3):e1000037, 2008. Return to text. - Quintana-Murci, L., National Centre for Scientific Research (France), “Human variation chalked up to natural selection: study”, PhysOrg.com, 4 Feb 2008. Return to text. - Quoted in Gibbons, 2017, ref 3. Return to text. Comments are automatically closed 14 days after publication.

https://creation.com/skin-colour-surprises

Religion

en

Warming food is a typical practice in numerous families and eateries. In any case, it accompanies likely dangers in the event that not done accurately. More than once warming food can influence its healthful quality, taste, and security. This guide investigates what happens when food is warmed on numerous occasions and gives tips on the most proficient method to guarantee safe food taking care of practices. Impacts of More than once Warming Food 1. Dietary Debasement: Nutrients and Minerals: Continued warming can prompt the breakdown of intensity touchy nutrients like L-ascorbic acid and some B nutrients. Minerals are by and large more steady yet can be lost assuming that it are disposed of to cook fluids. Proteins and Fats: Delayed openness to intensity can denature proteins, making them less edible. Fats can oxidize, prompting the development of destructive mixtures, for example, trans fats and free extremists. 2. Changes in Surface and Flavor: Surface: Food sources, particularly proteins like meat and fish, can become intense and rubbery when warmed on different occasions. Vegetables might become soft and lose their crunch. Flavor: Continued warming can make flavors crumble. Fragrant mixtures can dissipate, and synthetic responses during warming can deliver off-flavors. 3. Microbial Development: Microscopic organisms: The greatest worry with warming food is the potential for bacterial development. Food sources left at perilous temperatures (somewhere in the range of 40°F and 140°F or 4°C and 60°C) for broadened periods can foster destructive microbes like Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria. Poisons: A few microbes produce poisons that are not obliterated by heat. For instance, Staphylococcus aureus can create poisons in food that warming won't wipe out. Guaranteeing Safe Food Practices 1. Appropriate Capacity: Refrigeration: Store extra food in sealed shut holders and refrigerate in somewhere around two hours of cooking. For huge amounts, partition food into more modest bits to cool all the more rapidly. Freezing: For longer capacity, freeze extras. Name holders with dates to monitor capacity times. 2. Warming Techniques: Temperature: While warming food, guarantee it arrives at an inward temperature of somewhere around 165°F (74°C). Utilize a food thermometer to check. In any event, Warming: Mix food during warming to guarantee even appropriation of intensity. In a microwave, cover food and turn the dish to keep away from cold places where microbes can get by. Keep away from Different Warms: Attempt to warm just the piece you plan to eat. Over and again warming and cooling food builds the gamble of bacterial development. 3. Safe Taking care of Practices: Cleanliness: Wash hands completely prior to taking care of food. Clean surfaces, utensils, and cooking gear consistently. Keep away from Cross-Pollution: Utilize separate cutting sheets and utensils for crude and cooked food varieties to forestall the spread of microbes. Appropriate Defrosting: Defrost frozen food sources in the cooler, under chilly running water, or in the microwave. Try not to defrost at room temperature, as this can energize bacterial development. 4. Checking Food Quality: Visual and Smell Checks: Prior to warming, really look at nourishment for indications of waste like uncommon scents, staining, or shape. If all else fails, toss it out. Taste: Assuming food tastes off subsequent to warming, disposing of it is better. Trust your faculties to stay away from potential foodborne disease. Normal Food sources and Warming Rules 1. Meat and Poultry: Guarantee meat is warmed completely. Try not to warm on various occasions as this can harden the surface and debase flavor. Rice can hold onto Bacillus cereus spores, which can endure cooking and duplicate on the off chance that rice is left at room temperature. Warm rice completely and guarantee it is steaming hot. 3. Soups and Stews: These can be warmed on various occasions, yet consistently guarantee they arrive at a limit to kill any microorganisms. Store in shallow compartments for speedier cooling. 4. Eggs and Dairy: These items are exceptionally short-lived. Warm egg dishes and dairy-based sauces to a protected temperature and try not to warm on numerous occasions. More than once warming food can think twice about healthful quality, surface, flavor, and security. By understanding the impacts of warming and following legitimate stockpiling, taking care of, and warming practices, you can limit the dangers related with this normal practice. Continuously focus on cleanliness, screen food quality, and guarantee food sources are warmed to safe temperatures to safeguard your wellbeing and partake in your dinners securely. Interesting and delicious content, keep posting more now

https://vocal.media/lifehack/what-happens-when-food-is-repeatedly-heated-how-to-ensure-safe-food

Phones

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What Is Renal Failure? Chronic renal failure also called as chronic kidney disorder (CKD), is a condition in which the kidney functioning capacity decreases slowly, but steadily. Chronic renal failure is a slow process which goes on for months or years, and the kidneys slowly stop working. The main function of kidneys is to remove waste material from the body through filtering blood and prevent toxins and toxic material from piling up in the bloodstream. They also secrete hormones that are essential to control other body functions. Chronic Kidney diseases occur when someone is suffering from a slow gradual and ultimately permanent loss of kidney function over a period of time. Chronic Kidney disorder is one of the diseases affecting many people of civilization. Transplantation of kidney gives a ray of hope for a cure, but many patients die due to the lack of organ availability; those who are able to get a transplant, have the risk of immune rejection. Kidneys are two bean-shaped filtering organ positioned at the back side of our body. They are made up of minute structure also known as Nephrons. These nephrons are the building block of kidney and also a key regulator necessary for normal functioning of the kidneys. Kidneys filter blood, retain back its normal salts, mineral contents and remove toxins out of the body through urine. Damage caused to these nephrons, as in case of most of the kidney disorders may slow down the kidney function to the serious limits giving out an alarming signal. The most common causes of kidney disease are diabetes (type 1 or type 2 diabetes) and high blood pressure. Damage caused to small blood vessels in the body is a condition caused by these two conditions. The kidney’s blood vessels also get damaged, causing CKD. Other causes of kidney diseases are a kidney infection, cysts in the kidneys, urinary tract blockages, and prolonged use of prescription medications. Chronic renal disorder symptoms start appearing years after it starts developing. This can be diagnosed early by conducting regular blood tests of a patient. Some symptoms are more clear than others. like abnormal urination, puffy eyes, hands, and feet also called edema, high blood pressure, fatigue and shortness of breath, loss of appetite. This can also go up to stroke and mental disorder. Once a patient is diagnosed for chronic kidney disease, the cure depends on the medical problem and its level of complication that have caused the kidney failure. Stem Cell Therapy For Chronic Kidney Disorder Stem cells are known to have various application in Chronic Kidney Disorder (CKD). They are having the ability to regenerate and repair glomerulus, interstitium, blood vessels and tubules, the four important components of the renal structure and can also reverse symptoms of CKD. They secrete protective and nutrient factors that prevent apoptosis of living cells and stimulate replication of kidney cells. Stem cells are the cells of the body that can be differentiated into any cell type depending upon proper stimulation. This property of stem cells can be used to cure a variety of medical problems. From the research and data, available from various medical cases; it is been observed that stem cell on injecting into the body, can release some proteins, growth factors and cytokines, to stimulate the growth of kidney cells and proximal tubular epithelial cells. There is a lot of research is still under trial to prove that, stem cells can definitely stop the progression of the disease. How Much Does Cost Of Stem Cell Treatment For Kidney Failure In India? Stem Cell Therapy is a very convoluted treatment modality. As the cost is not regulated in most of the parts of the world for stem cell treatment, people from across the globe prefer India as it has become the hub of medical tourism for highly affordable stem cell therapy. The treatment cost here is significantly less of what it would cost in the western countries along with the waiting period and very expensive logistic cost. Stem Cell Treatment for Kidney Failure in India can cost you anywhere between $4,000 to $7,000 USD. The same treatment costs around $32,000 to $36,000 in the western countries, including the USA, UK, and Canada. But, in India, it will cost you almost 60% to 70% less than that. The total cost of the treatment depends on various medical factors such as the current condition of the patient, number of stem cells required, type of stem cells, type of cells, type of stem cell treatment, pre-treatment investigations and post-operative care etc. What Is Stem Cell Therapy For Kidney Disease Success Rates In India? The comprehensive success rates of Stem Cell Therapy for CKD in India is approx. 65% – 75%. After Stem Cell Therapy for Chronic Kidney Disease, the patient gets significant improvements and excellent results. So far, we have observed that around 80% of the patients who are treated using Stem Cell Therapy have shown well-improved results like complete stoppage of the progression of the disease, lengthening the cell death cycle, avoid the need of dialysis, balancing salts and minerals, BUN and creatinine levels regularizing, better-quality filtration, etc. Advantages Of Kidney Disease Treatment At Stem Cell Therapy In India: - Long lasting results - We Provide Counselling Prior to your travel, we provide the best hospitals and Expert doctors, we help you in selecting Top Hospital with Expert Stem cell Therapist - Our experts help hundreds of patients find the Best quality Of Economic Stem Cell Therapy in India. - No Waiting Time and Best services from Top Hospitals in India Immediate consultation, complete Hospitality experience, medical counseling & Nursing till discharge from Hospital - We Will Provide You With Visa Assistance, And Arrange Pickup And Drop From The Airport. We Will Assist You In Getting A Local Sim Card Also If Required. If You Need Any Assistance In Finding Accommodation, Food Options, For Local Transport, We Will Assist You With It. Why The International Patients Trust Us? - We Provide the best Hospitality Experience in India which are As Per International Standards and the team of Stem Cell Experts with an international professional standard Ensures Best Stem Cell Treatment to the patients. - We are Provider Of Healthy life And Improve the Standards Of living For the International patients By Providing affordable low-cost Stem Cell treatment, best treatment facility with International Standards and a homely atmosphere. Why Do We Care For You? - We encourage Patients to have all the information and details about the Stem Cell treatment and do researches from their side to make sure that they take a precise decision towards getting their stem cell treatment done in India. - We invite you to take a free consultation with our International Stem Cell Therapy Executive who can assist Patients and guide Patients in choosing the best option for their Stem Cell treatment in India. - We believe that there is always hope and possibility that patients deserve access to effective and safe stem cell therapy for Renal Failure In India. - We are independent of an in-house medical department. - We have an economic cost of stem cell Therapy for Renal Failure - Best Stem Cell Treatment For Renal Failure In India - We are in collaboration with best experts of this field best hospitals for stem cell treatment for Renal Failure, advanced treatments, unique products and exceptional services that are integrative and effective to ensure best possible treatment and hospitality results.

https://www.stemcelltherapyinindia.com/treatable-diseases/stem-cell-treatment-for-chronic-kidney-disorder.html

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Bitumen is a black, viscous, and highly durable material that is found in natural deposits across the globe. It is a complex mixture of organic liquids and solids, and is a key component in many construction and industrial materials. Bitumen has been used for thousands of years, with the earliest known use dating back to ancient Mesopotamia. It was used to waterproof boats and buildings, and was also used in the production of asphalt for roads. Today, bitumen is commonly extracted from oil sands, which are found in large deposits in Canada and Venezuela. The extraction process involves using hot water to separate the bitumen from the sand, resulting in a thick, tar-like substance that is then refined into various forms of bitumen. One of the most common uses of bitumen is in the production of asphalt, which is used in the construction of roads, highways, and parking lots. Bitumen is also used in the production of roofing materials, sealants, and adhesives. In addition to its use in construction, bitumen also has a number of industrial applications. It is used as a lubricant in machinery and as a solvent in the production of paints and other chemicals. Despite its many uses, the extraction and processing of bitumen can have negative environmental impacts. The production of bitumen from oil sands, for example, is a highly energy-intensive process that generates large amounts of greenhouse gases. Additionally, the extraction of bitumen can cause disruptions to local ecosystems and wildlife. Overall, bitumen is a versatile and valuable material that has been used for thousands of years. It has a wide range of applications in construction and industry, and continues to play a crucial role in modern society. Types of natural bitumen There are several different types of natural bitumen, depending on the source and the refining process. Some common types of natural bitumen include: - Asphalt: This is a type of bitumen that is produced by refining crude oil. It is a dark, viscous material that is used in the construction of roads, highways, and other paving applications. - Pitch: This is a type of bitumen that is extracted from coal tar. It is a thick, sticky substance that is used in the production of roofing materials, sealants, and adhesives. - Gilsonite: This is a type of bitumen that is extracted from natural deposits of asphaltite, a type of hydrocarbon. It is a solid material that is used in the production of inks, dyes, and other industrial products. - Natural rubber: This is a type of bitumen that is extracted from the sap of certain trees, such as the rubber tree. It is a flexible and elastic material that is used in the production of tires and other rubber products. These are just a few examples of the various types of natural bitumen that are found and used around the world. Each type has unique properties and applications, and is produced through different extraction and refining processes. How to test the properties natural bitumen There are various methods used to test the quality and properties of natural bitumen. Some common tests include: - Penetration test: This test measures the hardness of the bitumen by measuring the depth to which a standard needle will penetrate the material at a specific temperature and load. - Softening point test: This test determines the temperature at which the bitumen becomes soft and pliable. - Ductility test: This test measures the elongation of the bitumen when it is pulled apart by a constant force. - Viscosity test: This test measures the resistance of the bitumen to flow. - Flash and fire point test: This test measures the temperature at which the bitumen gives off flammable vapors. These tests are typically performed by trained professionals in a laboratory setting, using standardized testing methods and equipment. The results of these tests can be used to determine the suitability of the bitumen for various applications and to ensure that it meets specific quality standards. Application of Natural bitumen Natural bitumen has a wide range of applications in construction, industry, and other fields. Some common uses of natural bitumen include: - Asphalt: Bitumen is a key component of asphalt, which is used in the construction of roads, highways, and other paving applications. Asphalt is a durable and weather-resistant material that provides a smooth and stable surface for vehicles to travel on. - Roofing: Bitumen is used in the production of roofing materials, such as shingles and roll roofing. These materials are waterproof and resistant to wind and weather, making them ideal for protecting buildings from the elements. - Sealants and adhesives: Bitumen is used in the production of sealants and adhesives, which are used to bond two surfaces together. These products are commonly used in construction and industrial applications. - Lubricants: Bitumen is used as a lubricant in machinery and other equipment. It helps to reduce friction and wear, extending the life of the machinery and improving its performance. - Solvents: Bitumen is used as a solvent in the production of paints, inks, and other chemicals. It helps to dissolve other materials and improve the consistency and flow of the final product. These are just a few examples of the many applications of natural bitumen. It is a versatile and valuable material that has a wide range of uses in various industries and fields.

https://discover.hubpages.com/education/natural-bitumen

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Stories by Chioma Obinna Epilepsy in Nigeria is one of the neglected disorders and the misconception about the disorder has not helped sufferers. Even when the attack occurs only a few people know what to do and how the disease can be managed and treated. Experts say proper diagnosis and right drugs as well as treatment will improve quality of life of patients. Epilepsy, also known as seizure disorder, is a general term that refers to a tendency to have recurrent seizures. A seizure is a temporary disturbance in brain function in which groups of nerve cells in the brain signal abnormally and excessively. According to a Senior Consultant Neurologist, Institute of Neuro-sciences, Apollo Hospital, Delhi, India, Prof. Pushpendra Renjen, cases of epilepsy are growing in Nigeria due to absence of proper diagnosis and the belief that the disorder is more of a spiritual attack than a medical disorder. “If you pick up the right treatment epilepsy is controlled in 70 to 75 percent (3 in 4) of uncontrolled epileptic patients,” he said. Many epileptic patients in Nigeria today do not get treatment due to the myths and misconceptions surrounding the disorder. Deep Brain Stimulation Renjen said although there is no permanent cure for epilepsy, but with the right diagnosis and right drugs patients symptoms will improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, these drugs are not available in Nigeria and many people do not know where to get help for epilepsy. Epilepsy affects the brain and causes problems with the wiring. It is not contagious; the saliva and the foaming from the mouth cannot transmit epilepsy. He said people with uncontrolled epilepsy can be treated with surgery. “For instance, a Deep Brain Stimulation, DBS, can be used to treat patients. DBS is a surgery technique which involves implanting electrodes inside the deep nuclei of the brain called subthalamus under local anesthesia. With the progress of the disease the parameters of stimulation are changed over a period of time so that patients can remain symptom free for a long period. Renjen who said Apollo hospital has carried out 100DBS said 20 out of the patients were from Nigeria. “Rechargeable pacemakers are now available that can be recharged at home. The life of these pace makers are 15-20 years. It cannot be cured but controlled in 75 percent of patients. If your diagnosis is right and the drug is right, 75 percent will go into long term remission and they will not have attack for the rest of their lives. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/09/controlling-epilepsy-with-right-therapy/

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