Over ten seasons, Bike & Build has contributed more than $4M to housing groups to fund projects planned and executed by young adults; this includes more than $600,000 donated from the summer of 2012. Bike & Build hopes to donate at about this contribution level for the summer of 2013.
Monthly Archives: September 2013
Hurry it Up
Iran is the new Iraq [Eng/Heb]
Collusion between press barons and war mongers has been fact of life even before run up to Spanish-American War in 1898. Good to keep calling them out on it!
Afghan Women’s Writing Project | One Day Is Today
Afghan Women’s Writing Project | One Day Is Today.
One Day Is Today
If loud laughs and talk are bad for a girl,
I will keep laughing, loudly.
No matter what people think,
I will wear what I wish.
No matter how people scold and whisper,
I will raise my voice against violence and inequality—
No matter if I lose my life in this way
I will show people my power and ability,
and never, ever stop, until we end the pent-up
frustration caused by those who think women are only
good for staying home
and giving birth.
I am confident my unprecedented steps
will change minds
and give me respect as a human one day;
one day is today,
today gives me momentum to move on
without fear
and free myself from barriers
standing against our rights
in the name of religion.
Today, we are not alone;
the world hears our voices.
Today, more than one million girls
are going to schools and universities.
Today, they are ready to fight for their rights,
to study, to work, to pick their own partner
and make life’s decisions.
No matter what challenges I face,
I will fight, until I get my rights;
I will seek, until I reach my goals,
No matter what obstacles I encounter.
I will break all barriers ahead.
I will keep moving in my own way.
No matter how people judge me.
By Sitara B.
Merkel Campaign Event Visited by Mini Drone – SPIEGEL ONLINE
A Christian Democrat (CDU) campaign event taking place on Sunday in the eastern city of Dresden was interrupted when a miniature drone started circling above the audience. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière, who were on the stage alongside several other CDU politicians, looked on with amusement as the 40-centimeter (16-inch) aircraft came crashing down at their feet.
via Merkel Campaign Event Visited by Mini Drone – SPIEGEL ONLINE.
IRIN Africa | Learning to read in Madagascar | Madagascar | Aid Policy | Education | Gender Issues
Marie Louise, 46, from the village of Namakia-Ankilibe, about one hour’s drive south of Toliara, in arid southwestern Madagascar, never saw the inside of a classroom as a child. “My mother died when I was two years old and my uncle took care of us, but he never sent my two sisters and I to school. There wasn’t one in the village anyway,” she recalls.
Although being illiterate was considered normal in her village, Marie Louise found it a hindrance. “When the mailman brought letters we had to walk to the town and pay someone to read the letters to us. Also, the president of the fokotany (municipality) sometimes asked us to sign forms, and we didn’t know what it was we were signing.”
Now she is among about 100 villagers in her area enrolled in an adult literacy programme. Every afternoon they come together in a community garden where they have lessons by teachers provided by a local NGO. Marie Louise plans to take the primary school exam and then go on to a secondary school. “I want to learn a trade, become a vendor or a tailor later on,” she says.
She also plans to vote in the presidential elections on 25 October. “When I was younger, we were told to vote for President Didier Ratsiraka (Madagascar’s president from 1975 to 1993 and again from 1997 to 2002),” she told IRIN. “I felt manipulated and preferred not to vote at all. Now that I can read and write, I will listen to the speeches of the candidates on the radio and make up my own mind.”
via IRIN Africa | Learning to read in Madagascar | Madagascar | Aid Policy | Education | Gender Issues.
Police Dogs “Outsourced” for Rats! Dutch Police Train Rats to Aid Crime Investigations – SPIEGEL ONLINE
“Derrick” is unbeatable. He’s right in 98.8 percent of all cases, the kind of accuracy only machines can achieve. But Derrick is no machine. He’s part of an elite group of sewer rats currently being trained in Rotterdam to sniff out drugs, gunpowder or traces of other substances that cling to someone after they’ve committed a crime.
ANZEIGE
Shooting a gun leaves behind gunshot residue that until now could only be detected in a costly laboratory. Dutch police, under pressure to save money, now see Derrick and his four classmates as a cheaper and faster option than traditional science. The project’s potential savings has won it the support of the police’s “innovation manager.”
via Dutch Police Train Rats to Aid Crime Investigations – SPIEGEL ONLINE.
IPS – Seeds of Conflict Sprout in the Balkans | Inter Press Service
“There’s small chance today that you will find out whether what you have bought is a real, home-grown tomato,” says Jasmina Zdravkovic of the Institute of Farming in the central Serbian town of Smederevska Palanka, some 63 km southeast of the capital Belgrade.
“Most probably you’ll end up with one which has a white, inedible middle. It comes from the gene that was introduced to keep the tomato firm,” she tells IPS. Such tomatoes are never ripe; they only get red from the outside, Zdravkovic adds.
via IPS – Seeds of Conflict Sprout in the Balkans | Inter Press Service.
Avian Flu Diary: FAO Warns On Bird Flu
Look at chart above – Am I the only one who associates Avian influenza/Bird Flu with Lunar New Year/Tet? Way too many folks associate flu with cold weather when the most likely facilitating factor is breeding millions more ducks, geese, chickens to be gathered together in live markets for sale during Lunar New Year/Tet. Millions upon millions of birds gathered together create perfect breeding ground for new mutations and to stressed bird to succumb and pass on to humans either directly or indirectly through the pigs being raised for same period. And now with globalization of poultry markets, it is all the easier to spread diseases worldwide via shipping chicks from homeland around the world.
As with seasonal flu, avian flu viruses tend to circulate more efficiently during cooler, drier weather. You can see the seasonality of H5N1 illustrated in the chart at the top of this post.
In February of this year a new and deadly avian flu virus appeared in China. On March 31st, the virus was identified, and the world first learned of the H7N9 threat. By the end of May, more than 130 people had been infected (32% would eventually die) – then case reports dried up over the summer.
The concern is, cooler weather – historically more conducive to the spread of avian influenza – is on the way. Which brings us to this press release from the FAO, warning that increased vigilance is required this fall.






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