All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

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.

via Avian Flu Diary: FAO Warns On Bird Flu.

Egyptian Aak. Week 37

Nervana

Main Headlines

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

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Week 37- A Few Thoughts. The Brotherhood’s New strategy

Nervana

 A month has passed since the forced ending of the pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo. The widespread security crackdown and the arrest of the Brotherhood’s most senior cadres have had a huge impact in paralyzing the main skeleton of the group and has limited their ability to function.

 How has the Muslim Brotherhood coped with this? It is important to look at other aspects of the Brotherhood’s structure and mindset that opponents miss or ignore. These factors are crucial to understanding how the Brotherhood survives. Two aspects are especially worth highlighting.

 First, many believe the widespread myth that Islamists in general, and the Brotherhood in particular do not read about other ideologies and foreign books. This is untrue, many Islamists read the “Infidel’s” books; mainly to look for ideas that vindicate their ideology, and tips that can be of help to their own goals. For example, many Islamists have read __

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Photos: Crowd Cheers As Firefighters Rescue Dog From Burning Building: LAist

A crowd waited breathlessly as Santa Monica firefighters attempted to revive a dog that had been overcome by smoke inhalation. The good news: Stella the dog pulled through.

Firefighters responded Saturday morning to a fire at an apartment building at the corner of 2nd and Hill Street, according to KTLA 5.

Firefighters discovered the female boxer behind a mattress as they searched the five-unit structure for victims.

“If you walked in there and looked at it the first time through you wouldn’t see it,” Captain Jeff Furrows of the Santa Monica Fire Department—who didn’t at first realize the dog, Stella, was a girl—told KTLA. “But he was obviously trying to get away, that’s what his instincts told him to do,” he said.

Stella suffered smoke inhalation and was unconscious when firefighters carried her to safety. Luckily, they had a pet oxygen mask and placed it over Stella’s muzzle.

A crowd watched and waited along with the rescue workers; 15 minutes later, the dog came around.

A boy who got caught up in the drama told KTLA, “Everybody got excited. It’s a dog, man’s best friend.” A woman confessed, “I got very emotional.”

via Photos: Crowd Cheers As Firefighters Rescue Dog From Burning Building: LAist.

[Update] Cops Mistakenly Shoot Two Female Bystanders In Times Square: Gothamist

Police said one officer fired one shot, not striking the man. Then another officer who had responded fired two shots at the man, also not striking him. Instead, two pedestrians standing on the northeast corner of 8th Avenue and West 42nd Street were struck. A 54-year-old woman who uses a walker was struck in the lower right leg and rushed to Bellevue Hospital. A 35-year-old woman was grazed in her buttocks and was transported to Roosevelt Hospital.

via [Update] Cops Mistakenly Shoot Two Female Bystanders In Times Square: Gothamist.