My Africa Today

Before the digial divide there was hope. This thesis is a prefix to the broadband era and shows how a whole region moved through systems of communication from foot to fidonet email. Interviews with email pioneers, details of 100 years of telecommunications traffic and stories from the turning points of electronic eras build the account of East Africa's hope, rebellion, triumph and submersion.

An investigation into the long term effects of telecommunications in development and the more recent impacts of electronic mail and Internet in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It deals with the detail and contexts of global interconnection from the telegraph to broadband.




SOURCE : http://www.scribd.com/doc/21449/-From-the-telegraph-to-the-digital-divide-in-Uganda-Kenya-and-Tanzania

This online lexicon for Sheng is based on Sarah Hillewaert's MA thesis (Ghent University, 2003). At present, only a selection of words has been reworked for this online version by Sarah Hillewaert and Gilles-Maurice de Schryver. This work in progress is being created with David Joffe's dictionary compilation software TshwaneLex, and is online since 10 May 2004.


LINK: http://africanlanguages.com/swahili/sheng/index.php?browse&o=0&qi=14163

Miss Universe 2007 arrival welcome video


Miss Universe 2007 Swimsuit Photos

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE AFRICAN PARENTS IF...

You boyfriend / male friend’s big sister automatically becomes your friend as
Excuse for wanting to visit them and vice versa for the males

You’ve over heard you parent or parents talking about something you’ve done over
The phone to a relative and they act like your not sitting right next to them

Your parents ever threatened to take you back home (which they never do because its like 10,000$ a ticket)

You’ve tried to explain yourself in a situation and they feel like you are (African accent)
Back talking

You get in mad trouble if you do not offer to help your mom or female relative when they are cooking in the kitchen (and when you do help they say get out you don’t know how to do anything)

You’ve seen random phone cards lying around the house

If they have ever watched BET with you or accidentally passed by seeing the video and say (in an African accent) OHHHH so this is the kind of thing u are watching eh? Lol

If you’ve ever been called to do something so dumb you run upstairs thinking it’s an emergency to hear your parent say have you eaten today? Or can you pass me the remote

If you’ve ever been embarrassed in a public place (mall , restaurant etc) because your parents want the whole world to know your full name and they are extra loud

If your friends ever call for you and don’t greet your parents are always gangsta enough to say (African accent) so you cant say hi or your friend gets a 2 min lecture on proper greetings

If you’ve ever gotten in trouble for something your little sibling has done even though it has nothing to do with you

If something has happened and they yell Jesus or God in whatever language

If you love you parents even though they drive u crazy sometimes pass this on to any African im sure they can relate.

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Despite a barely unpronounceable name (which created a small challenge at the office) Nissan proposes a new S.U.V with great design : the Qashqai. Straight from the UK design headquarters of Nissan, this S.U.V of 4.31 metres will be powered by 4 different engine offers: - 1.6 litre gasoline engine producing 115HP - 2.0 litre gasoline engine producing 140HP - 1.5 litre diesel engine producing 106HP - 2.0 litre diesel engine producing 150HP Well on one hand, we really appreciated the style of this new sports utility vehicle we are, on the other, rather concerned regarding the power of the engines, especially for off-road adventures. We recently got to test the 2007* Mitsubishi Outlander which will be available through Peugeot and Citroen dealers and had some difficulties with its 170HP. The Qashqai will be available in 5/6 gears manual transmission or with 2 different 6 speeds CVT automatic transmissions. *The review of this vehicle will soon be available at NihonCar.

If you have a website which needs to be promoted on the internet or if you would like to create a productive, even a lucrative business from your website, it is advisable for you to consider the services of a professional search engine marketing company. In South Africa, any entrepreneur will be aware of the benefits of online marketing. South Africa is a large land and the internet is arguably, a marketing tool which will reach many more possible customers than any other. If you would like more visitors and quality potential customers to visit your web site, consider expert search engine marketing tactics from top search engine marketing companies in South Africa.

It is important that you research the experience your chosen SEM Company has. Can they do the job properly? Investigate their years in the industry and find out who their top performing clients are. Many professional SEM Companies will have this information on their web sites for customers to read. The internet is a good place to start looking for an expert SEM Company.

Choose a company which offers all the services to ensure successful SEM tactics and services. Services such as search engine optimization, research, copywriting, web development, blog posting, link submissions, article and press releases and regular reporting. Ensure that your chosen SEM Company will cover your web site’s marketing and advertising from all angles.

Communication is also a very important factor when finding an appropriate SEM Company. It is important to be updated with your web sites’ marketing progress. Enquire from your chosen SEM Company what sort of report format you will receive and how often you will receive this.

Finally, choose a search engine marketing company which offers all these services and more to fulfill your needs. You should be able to trust your chosen search engine marketing company to meet your requirements and achieve increased rankings and internet traffic. Get a unique strategy for your website from a professional SEM Company and expand your internet business. Use an SEM Company which has a strong reputation and experience in the search engine marketing industry, do intensive research on your chosen company by contacting current top performing clients and get first-hand knowledge from their experiences.

Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation can make all the difference to the success of your business. Get expert SEO from a professional SEM Company and get more sales, enquiries and quality visitors to your web site.

Gerald Shuma wrote this for an online marketer from Mambo Interactiv , a fastest growing, multinational search engine marketing firm.

Matt and Jessica Flannery founded Kiva.org, a person-to-person microcredit Web site. Kiva -- which means "unity" in Swahili -- allows individuals to make loans as small as $25 to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Since Kiva.org was launched more than two years ago, it has brokered more than $6.5 million in collateral-free loans to more than 9,000 businesses.

LINK: www.Kiva.orgjavascript:void(0)
Save Now

CNBC is partnering with Africa Business News to launch a channel for sub-Saharan Africa this year. At launch, CNBC Africa will carry six hours of dedicated African programming per day along with the network’s signature stock ticker.

It will be available 24 hours a day on a free-to-air basis; outside the 6 hour African programming block, programmes from CNBC’s American, European and Asian channels will be carried, including the flagship Worldwide Exchange programme tri-anchored from London, New York and Singapore. “CNBC Africa is an important development for CNBC and this region,” said CNBC president Mark Hoffman.

“We are the world leader in business news and financial information and our programming is trusted by business leaders and the financial community around the world. We are delighted that we will be able to bring global real-time news and analysis to the region, which is growing in significance as a centre of business and commerce.” “The launch of CNBC Africa will be a milestone in the African broadcasting landscape,” said Zafar Siddiqi, chairman of Africa Business News. “The launch of CNBC Africa will be a milestone in the African broadcasting landscape. By focusing on real-time regional business and financial news, combined with that from other regions around the world, our aim is to provide our viewers with independent news and analysis that will enable them to make informed decisions when doing business in Africa.”

I'm quite sure that KFC global expansion will be targeting Uganda in short order. English is the official language and as we can see in the map poultry production is wide spread. So if we take major road access and density of poultry production it would seem Fort Portal, Kampala, and Mbale are the big hubs. If you throw Hotellings law into the equation all the KFC's should be in Kampala, right next each other, across the street, from BK, McD, Taco Hell, and at least twelve gas stations.


Description:
These maps present a visual description of the poultry density in Uganda as revealed by data from the agricultural module of the Uganda Population and Housing Census conducted in 2002. The maps have been created by a collaborative effort between Uganda Bureau of Statistics and ILRI as a means of providing information on the potentially threatened areas in terms of avian flu commonly known as bird flu. Poultry is defined as local chicken, exotic or cross breed chicken, turkeys, ducks, guinea fowl and geese. The data is based on average number of birds per month for the last 3 months regardless of age. Data was found online in Shapefiel format at: http://www.ilri.org/gis/search.asp?id=437

Female circumcision marked the cut-off point between child and woman, signifying the transition from the state of ignorance, inactivity, impotence, and asexuality into one of activity, knowledge and reproduction (Mbiti, 1969:p123; Nelson, 1987:p221)[1]. Kenyatta (1939 [1961:p159, 161])[2]: “[…] a Gikuyu man has been taught from childhood to develop the technique of self-control in the matter of sex […] During early childhood parents talk freely to their children explaining all matters connected with sexual taboos”. Pre-initiation masturbation is considered “right and proper”; afterwards, it is said to be abandoned and referred to as a babyish habit. Girls are told it is “wrong” (p162). Formalised sex instruction is offered to girls in an initiation ceremony including circumcision (Leakey, 1931)[3].

Occasional infant and child betrothal was noted by (Routledge, 1910: p124-5)[4]. Dundas (1915:p284)[5] stated that infant betrothal was common. Usually, however, the betrothal is a girl’s own affair.

The Pre-Colonial Kikuyu were said to practice “incomplete sex play” known as ngwiko after initiation at puberty (Ahlberg, 1991:p61)[6]. Sexual intercourse is part of initiation ceremonies of both boys and girls (Lambert, 1956:p54-5; see also p34-5)[7]. For girls, it required full intercourse before nuptial age, “to be wiped clean from the soot of the knife” (kuhuuruo mbiro ya ruenji). It would take place before menarche (to avoid pregnancy)[8], and should lead to defloration (but not wholly, since virginity was valued [!]). Elders say that girls got rid of their “initiation dirt” by intercourse with immature and uninitiated boys (a heinous offence on the part of an initiated girl except for this one purpose), who, not having reached the stage when sex was socially important, would not suffer from the taint”.

During the irua ceremony, relatives and friends of the novice sing about sexual knowledge and the rules governing social relationships between men and women to acquaint the initiates with their future adult roles (Kenyatta, 1938:p141)[9]. For the ceremony, girls must be menarchal, and must not have had sexual intercourse or experience with masturbation (Bunche, 1941:p)[10]. The songs at the mugumo tree impart knowledge about sexuality and how to comport oneself in sexual relationships.

Consummation of marriage was a recognised event (Leakey, 1977 [II]:p381-3)[11], and there were routine instructions for brides and grooms (p786-8). Sexual intercourse before initiation was strictly forbidden, and it was said it would show after operation: the wounds would not heal properly (I, p398, 410). Taking advantage of the few opportunities for breaking the rule we met by severe beatings. Initiation age was lowered with the arrival of Europeans, from 17/18 to 14/15 (II, p587-8); girls were initiated at age 12 (“when their breasts were only partially formed”), though elders indicated menarche age was lowered compared to the old days. Ritual sexual intercourse is witnessed by the initiates at various occasions.

Boys up to ages 14/15 were allowed to play at mutual masturbation and sexual intercourse with girls (II, p584); afterwards, it was forbidden out of fear that they would abuse little girls. Big boys would have to settle with masturbation, sex with barren married women, or with goats or sheep, the latter both being tabooed. Most 14/15 year olds build huts proudly announced as their thingira (men’s hut), inviting boys and girls to

“play sexually in imitation of their initiated brothers and sisters. As the parents were fully aware of what went on and knew that these boys and girls would lie together, they constantly warned them that in no circumstance were they to attempt to have actual sexual intercourse, and that they had to content themselves with fondling and cuddling each other. Occasionally a boy and girl would disobey this rule, and because of this many mothers would regularly examine their daughters’ genitalia. Knowledge that there would be this examination from time to time was usually enough to make the little girls careful to obey the rules laid down for them. They knew that if they allowed the bigger boys to have full intercourse they would be found out and severely punished. For their part the boys were constantly warned that if they did more than simply play at sex, they would do themselves harm, and that when they were circumcised they would not heal quickly. Naturally, both boys and girls grew up with a considerable knowledge of sex, for in addition to what they heard and saw of the behaviour of the grown-ups, they were also taught a great deal by their parents when being told of the prohibition against full intercourse” (II, p584-5).

Decline of the age-set system, schooling, the gweko custom, and the delay of integration of sex education has changed recent matters (Worthman and Whiting, 1987)[12]. Today, Ahlberg et al.[13] argue, circumcision still symbolises becoming a Kikuyu adult, it is now performed in a clinic and no longer includes the ceremonies and open discourse that formerly conveyed sexual knowledge combined with strict social controls regulating sexual behaviour. The changes have resulted in “numerous discrepancies between cognition and practice”: although parents believe sexual intercourse should be restricted to marriage, they have employed “a prohibitive silence” that is misinterpreted by youth who have little reliable knowledge about sexual matters.

Loon I can't hate ...thanks for shooting the vid Africa. Its means more that what other rappers can do in a lifetime.this video was taken in Dar es salaam and Zanzibar,Tanzania.Tanzania is the land of Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar.

Sexual exploitation of children in Kenya has reached very high levels, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) stated in a report launched today in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. In some districts, up 30 percent of young girls were engaged in the sex trade, which in particular follows the tourism industry. But Kenyans are the biggest group of customers.

A study by UNICEF and the Kenyan government found that at least 15,000 girls in four districts on the Kenyan coast - Mombasa, Kilifi, Malindi and Kwale - were engaged in casual sex-for-cash.

"These girls, aged 12 to 18 years, make up 30 percent of the total population of girls from these districts in this age range," UNICEF said. "A further two to three thousand girls and boys are involved in full-time sex-for cash. Some of them are paid to perform the most horrific and abnormal acts."

According to UNICEF, at least 45 percent of the girls in the survey began selling sex for cash, goods or favours at only 12 or 13. More than 10 percent of girls involved in prostitution began transactional sex when they were younger than 12.

According to the report, while many children are driven into transactional sex because of poverty, the high level of acceptance of child sex work in a significant group linked with tourism and beach commerce makes it relatively easy for children to drift into casual sex in exchange for no more than extra pocket money.

Kenyan Vice President Moody Awori, who launched the report, said sexual exploitation of children in the country was a "shocking reality" and "a vice that continues to grow to horrific magnitude particularly around the coastal region".

The study shows that Kenyan men are the worst culprits in sexual exploitation of children, making up 38 percent of the clients.

"Among tourists, Italians, Germans and Swiss ranked as the most common clients of child sex workers at 18 percent, 14 percent and 12 percent respectively," UNICEF said. "Ugandans and Tanzanians rank fifth and sixth in the client group, while British and Saudi Arabian men ranked seventh and eighth - but representatives of virtually every nationality visiting Kenya are named in the report."

Vice President Awori said the government was taking steps to promote responsible tourism: "To combat exploitation of Kenyan children by tourists, the government now requires all foreigners to state their residential address in Kenya before being allowed into the country - which helps us to monitor foreigners' activities. We will also work with other governments to urge their cooperation in promoting responsible tourism."

UNICEF’s Kenya representative, Heimo Laakkonen, said: "Tourists and Kenyans who abuse children must be arrested, brought to trial and punished. Children who are exploited for sex are the victims, they are being abused."

Mr Laakkonen said there was a need to scale-up programmes promoting responsible tourism and expand endorsement of the Code of Conduct, which binds hoteliers and their staff to report the abuse and suspected abuse of children on their premises.

"Tourists must be made aware, right from their points of origin, that Kenya is a no-go zone for sexual exploiters of children," he said. He added that the findings of the study was part of a wider campaign by the government, UNICEF, civil society, religious organisations and the private sector in Kenya to stop violence against children.

Sexual exploitation of children is a criminal offence under Kenya's Penal Code, but the study showed an extremely high level of acceptance of commercial sex involving children.

The sexual exploitation of children is not limited to coastal areas or to tourists, but is found across Kenya. About one in 10 children involved in sex work is initiated before they reach puberty, the report states. "It reflects a failure of the authorities to provide protection to children and to prosecute those responsible for promoting and profiting from child sex work," the report added.

The report recommends that the Kenyan government, civil society, the tourist industry, and broader private sector urgently come together to prevent and end the sexual exploitation of children.

By UN agency IRIN

MYTH 1: The US was founded on Christian principles.

TRUTH:

This is incorrect.

The Constitution never once mentions a deity, because the Founding Fathers wanted to keep their new country "religion-neutral." Our Founding Fathers were an eclectic collection of Atheists, Deists, Christians, Freemasons and Agnostics.

George Washington, the Father of our country, and John Adams (Second President of the USA) CLEARLY stated in the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli: "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian Religion.”

G.W. rarely attended church and instead followed a popular 18th century philosophy called Deism—a Star Wars-esque philosophy that believed in a cosmic energy or big-ass universal "Force." The dictionary says that Deism is "a system of thought advocating natural religion based on human reason rather than revelation," that had nothing to do with Christian principles.

James Madison, original mastermind of our Constitution, was an Atheist to the core who loved skewering Christianity. In 1785 he wrote, "What have been [Christianity’s] fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.”

Thomas Jefferson, who sat down and authored The Declaration of Independence, rarely missed an opportunity to laugh at Christianity. In a letter to John Adams in 1823, he wrote: "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus…will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."

More ammo: In 1814, Tommy J. wrote about the Bible's Old and New Testaments, "The whole history of these books is so defective and doubtful -- evidence that parts have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds.”

In fact, it was President Jefferson himself who first wrote (to a Baptist church group in 1802), "The First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between Church and State." Therefore, when Jefferson talked about “Nature’s God,” the “Creator” and “divine Providence ” in the Declaration that he wrote, he was being a hippie and referring to a general cosmic energy-- not the Christian God.

America is not a Christian nation. Period. Our Constitution derived from the post-Christian Enlightenment values of reason and truth...never from the paranoid yammerings of that otherwise compassionate cult leader who fucking died in the Middle Eastern desert 3000 years ago.

MYTH 2: US Conservatives tend to be patriotic, ethical Americans; liberals tend to hate America and are immoral.

TRUTH:

Liberals aren't the traitors to America. In fact, conservatives who insist on sending American troops into the Iraqi slaughterhouse to watch some blood-n'-guts "towelhead" ass-kickin' are the traitors. Most of them could care less about our troops, no more than Mao or Stalin cared about the safety of their own soldiers. In the neocons' view, these young boys and girls are expendable test dummies. They're dying for virtually nothing, so that the hicks in the Bush Admin can make good on their campaign promises to their buddies from the petroleum and infrastructure-rebuilding industries. By revving up the Arab threat, these MFs can scream "national security" and "freedom" as smokescreens, while getting their hands on a diminishing resource: Middle Eastern fossil fuels, which power everything from your lightbulbs and computer that you leave on all night, to your stupid gas-guzzler pickup truck.

Pro-war conservatives are the traitors to America. With only 29% of the public approving of Bush's policies now, it took a full 5 years for America to finally wake up in bed next to this disgusting fact.

Do liberals hate America? No, in fact they care so much about the USA that they fight so aggressively to make it better. They're not anti-American; they're just anti-stupidity. Do liberals hate American policies? Sometimes, but only the self-destructive ones that threaten human rights, liberty, democracy, justice, inquiry, excellence and reason-- the values that our country was founded upon.

As for conservative moral superiority? Frauds. Think of the child-molesting priests, money-scamming televangelist preachers, Jack Abramoff's friends in the Bush Admin, gay-hating Jesus lovers, the Christians who beat up the professor who opposed intelligent design, human rights violators like Lynndie England and her Abu Ghraib hick officer pals, Tommy "Scandal-icious" Delay, Scooter "Leaky" Libby, the entire K Street Project meant to hire only Republicans, FEMA's Michael "Yer doin' a heckuva job" Brownie, and so on.

Oh and by the way, conservative Red states have a divorce rate 27% higher than the liberal Blue states, the per capita rate of violent crime in Red states is 49 per 100,000 higher than in Blue states, the top 5 states with the highest rates of alcohol abuse are Red states, and the per capita rate of gonorrhea in Red states was 41 per 100,000 higher than in the Blue states. Time to unshelf the antibiotics for our "ethical," "God-fearing" conservative friends with their "traditional family values."

MYTH 3. The US has a liberal media.

TRUTH:

This is a paranoid Republican myth.

Reality check: the US media is a mix of liberal, centrist and conservative voices. Also, the US media is largely owned by 10 corporations who frequently push pro-conservative agendas to the American public. Evidence:

1. Even Republican Pat Buchanan confessed, "For heaven sakes, we kid about the liberal media, but every Republican on earth does that." Neo-conservative pundit Bill Kristol also said, "I admit it: the liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures."

2. A 2005 study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics found that "coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media." Why? Partly because only four major corporate networks control American TV news-- up to 75% of the audience share. The "Big 10" media conglomerates who control the bulk of the entire US media are: AOL Time Warner, Disney, General Electric, News Corporation, Viacom, Vivendi, Sony, Bertelsmann, AT&T and Liberty Media. Yes, we have National Public Radio, but compare its public reach to that of Canada's CBC and the United Kingdom's BBC.

3. Eighty percent of all US newspapers are owned by corporate chains.

4. Liberals are virtually non-existent on talk radio stations nationwide. Rush and Dr. Laura, eat your hearts out.

5. Conservatives are very well accomodated for across FOX News, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, the New York Post, the American Spectator, the Weekly Standard, the Drudge Report, the National Review, etc. Even so-called "bastions of liberalism," e.g. the NY Times, MSNBC, WashPost and NPR make a concerted effort to be "fair and balanced" by bringing in right-wing views like those of David Brooks, Joe Scarborough, Tucker Carlson, Charles Krauthammer and Cokie Roberts to have their say in these forums, respectively. This is in stark contrast to FOX News' claims to unbiased objectivity, which were easily demolished by Robert Greenwald in 2004.

6. Contrary to what some paranoid Republicans claim, most journalists are centrists, not liberals. A representative sample of 141 US journalists and bureau chiefs were asked in 1998, "On social issues, how would you characterize your political orientation?" Answers: Left 30%, Center 57%, Right 9%, Other 5% . Next question, same sample: "On economic issues, how would you characterize your political orientation? " Answers: Left 11%, Center 64%, Right 19%, Other 5%. Also, look at the total number of think tank citations in major newspapers, radio and TV transcripts: Conservative TTs: 7792, Centrist TTs: 6361, Liberal TTs: 1152.

7. Eric Alterman summarizes a 1999 research study from the academic journal Communications Research: "Four scholars examined the use of the 'liberal media' argument and discovered a fourfold increase in the number of Americans telling pollsters that they discerned a liberal bias in their news. But a review of the media's actual ideological content, collected and coded over a twelve-year period, offered no corroboration whatever for this view."

MYTH 4. The US doesn’t need improvement compared to other countries; it is the greatest country in the world.

TRUTH:

Wrong again. I'll only cite the statistics here.

USA Ranking on Adult Literacy Scale: #9

(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- OECD

USA Ranking on Healthcare Quality Index: #37

(#1 France and #2 Italy)- World Health Organization 2003

USA Ranking of Student Reading Ability: #12

(#1 Finland and #2 South Korea)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking of Student Problem Solving Ability: #26

(#1 South Korea and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking on Student Mathematics Ability: # 24

(#1 Hong Kong and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking of Student Science Ability: #19

(#1 Finland and #2 Japan)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking on Women's Rights Scale: #17

(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- World Economic Forum Report

USA Position on Timeline of Gay Rights Progress: # 6 (1997)

(#1 Sweden 1987 and #2 Norway 1993)- Vexen

USA Ranking on Life Expectancy: #29

(#1 Japan and #2 Hong Kong)- UN Human Development Report 2005

USA Ranking on Journalistic Press Freedom Index: #32

(#1 Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands tied)- Reporters Without Borders 2005

USA Ranking on Political Corruption Index: #17

(#1 Iceland and #2 Finland)- Transparency International 2005

USA Ranking on Quality of Life Survey: #13

(#1 Ireland and #2 Switzerland)- The Economist Magazine ...Wikipedia "Celtic Tiger" if you still have your doubts.

USA Ranking on Environmental Sustainability Index: #45

(#1 Finland and #2 Norway)- Yale University ESI 2005

USA Ranking on Overall Currency Strength: #3 (US Dollar)

(#1 UK pound sterling and #2 European Union euro)- FTSE 2006....the dollar is now a liability, so many banks worldwide have planned to switch to euro

USA Ranking on Infant Mortality Rate: #32

(#1 Sweden and #2 Finland)- Save the Children Report 2006

USA Ranking on Human Development Index (GDP, education, etc.): #10

(#1 Norway and #2 Iceland)- UN Human Development Report 2005

So much for those "socialist" Europeans and those "backward" Asians, hm?

We can do better than this.

Miscellany:

*Only 18% of Americans own passports and bother to travel outside of the US.

* 85% of US soldiers in Iraq believe that they are there to get revenge for 9/11.

* New international student enrollment in US grad schools has decreased by 6%, because of xenophobic post-9/11 US visa restrictions, jacked-up tuition fees and better educational opportunities in the EU and Asia. So no, not everyone wants to come here anymore, because it's become a land of incredibly limited opportunity, and we've lowered our educational standards.

MYTH 5: The US government loves to help other countries.

TRUTH:

This is a myth. The US government tends to be motivated by interests, not humanitarian principles.

Denmark gives the most amount of its GDP (1.01%) to developing countries; Norway gives 0.91%; the Netherlands give 0.79% and so on until the end of list, where the USA sits. Yes, America ranks DEAD LAST in foreign aid at a pathetic 0.1% of its GDP, compared to the other 21 nations listed as developed nations. The idea that the US government is a heroic bunch that runs around the world helping the poor and the disempowered is not backed up by the evidence. We have one of the stingiest governments on earth.

Most Americans believe the US spends 24% of its budget on aid to poor countries; the actual amount is well under a quarter of 1%. Our country also ranks #5 on asylum-seeker acceptance rates (#1 is Denmark and #2 is Canada).

For you self-congratulatory, redneck-inspired conservative fuckwads who will start to say, "B-b-b-but you're anti-American! M-m-m-moonbat! G-g-g-god bless the USA!" I answer, "Go fuck yourself. We can do better." Stop blindly believing everything your president tells you. Come back to us only when you start realizing that the $400 billion your president has allocated to his Roman Empire-style military overstretch could be better spent on correcting the sociopolitical and economic problems in the arenas that I've listed above

The Umhlanga (Reed Dance) is a traditional dance where twenty to thirty thousand of Swaziland’s maidens congregate and dance for the public. This tradition has existed for a very long time. It usually takes place around August when the weather is less harsh and the reed has matured. Thousands of maidens from all parts of Swaziland attend the reed dance.

The initial reason for this tradition was to encourage young women to abstain from sexual activities and preserve their virginities until they were matured enough to get married, according to E MKHONTA at Dansa college . It also prepares the girls for marriage as during their stay at the camps before the actual dance they are given certain tasks to perform in groups. Since there is a lot of groupwork involved, good communication skills are developed that help in solving a lot of problems in marriages. There are also elder women at the camps that advise the girls on marriage related issues and how to handle themselves in a dignified manner.

The night after their arrival at the camps, after supper, the girls set off to the destination where they are to pick the reed by foot. It is a very long distance from the camps and the trip may take the whole night. This is not a problem because the girls chuckle and share their life experiances with one another, entertaining one another along the way. Each girl may pick about ten reeds.

On the next day, after breakfast, the girls put on their traditional attire, which consists of a beaded necklace with colours of the Swazi flag called ligcebesha, colourful beads with wooly tassels which are hung from the left shoulder to the right hip “umgaco”, a low cut and short beaded skirt called indlamu and brown anklets with oval shaped attachments “emafahlawane” and tassels on the head called umcwasho that come in different colours: blue for kids, yellow for teenagers and red for the more mature maidens. After dressing up, they take their reeds to the royal village which is quite a distance from the camps. There it is used to make wind breakers of the queen mother’s house-Anon.

The whole celebration takes three days, of which on the last day there is the actual dance. On the morning of this day the girls are delivered by government vehicles to a stadium where the interested public is waiting to watch, including royalty. The girls show up in their traditional attires and looking their best to be presentable to the public. On this day the king Mswati III delivers a speech addressing his subjects on wide ranging issues like HIV/AIDS and so do other known personalities of the country depending on who is featured on the programme. This day attracks a lot of tourists to the country.

As the girls dance, the spectators may join the dance [kugiya] or throw money at their feet in appreciation of the good dance. The king is allowed to pick one of the maidens to be his bride. On September 6, 2004, he chose a sixteen-year-old reed dance participant and finalist from Miss Teenage Swaziland as a fiancée, to join his eleven wives and one other fiancée-The maidens do not gather specifically for the king and they are not forced to attend the ceremony. It is by choice that they attend the reed dance.

My Sportsman of the Year fell flat on his face.

The runners who started ahead of him in the 2006 ING New York City Marathon didn't think of the hazard they created as they dropped their sweatpants and shirts along the course. So Suleiman Rifai found himself face-first on the street, tripped by the debris and the disease that left him blind and unable to avoid whatever blocked his path.

Which is exactly why Suleiman is my Sportsman: He simply doesn't see obstacles. Left blind at age 8 by retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited eye affliction that causes progressive and sometimes total blindness, Suleiman moved from his native Tanzania to New York when he was 19 to re-learn how to live at a rehabilitation center for the blind.

And boy, did he re-learn. He decided to dance, and ended up alongside Alvin Ailey. He went back to school and got a masters -- cum laude, of course. He not only became a counselor for drug addicts, but homeless drug addicts. After being stuck in his home most during most of his adolescence, he lives as if he needs to account for that lost time, living more life, showing everyone who meets him that there's a difference between a disability and inability and it's a choice -- which is why I found myself tethered to Suleiman on 100-degree days, guiding him along on his training runs. If Suleiman was going to run, it naturally had to be a marathon.

On our runs he told me how he swims on Mondays, runs Tuesdays, dances Wednesdays, spins Thursdays ... I would have contributed to the conversation, but that would have required breath. And I had none.

"C'mon, Grandma," he'd taunt to me as I ran up the hills -- him walking right beside me just to taunt my lack of speed. When I could no longer keep pace with him , he began working out on a treadmill with me pushing the buttons. "More," he'd tell me, asking for more of an incline, more speed.

"But, Suli, this is already a hard workout," I'd say.

"Everything is harder for me," he'd reason, demonstrating the strength of spirit, the depths of his drive. "I have no choice."

He does, actually. And he chooses to see what's possible.

Suleiman crossed the finish line in 4:28:44, a time that qualifies him for the Boston Marathon -- with more than 40 minutes to spare -- as a visually impaired runner. He would fall two more times before completing the race.

But it in the end it wasn't the falling down that mattered. It was the getting up that counted.

Wema Isaac Sepetu a 18 year-old student is 2006 Miss Tanzania.

What are your interests and what do you enjoy doing the most?
I enjoy modeling. Fashion is my passion. Music is also something I am interested in.

What is your career ambition?
My ambition is to be an engineer as well as a top model and also a fashion stylist.

Describe where you were raised and what your childhood was like.
I grew up in the Shinyanga region in a normal family. Shinyanga is a region in Tanzania that is known for its minerals, especially diamonds, and is also reputed to be endowed with precious stones. I had a happy and fun-filled childhood where laughter and adventure were a part of every day life. I also frequently visited the mines in the area with my family and friends.

What do you want the judges to know about you?
I am an electrical technician by profession as well as a top model in my country. I never let anyone define me neither by hair nor clothing as I believe God made me perfect as a pure, natural African woman.

Miss Tanzania, Flaviana Matata, an electrical technician whose country is participating for the first time, is also challenging stereotypes of beauty with her shaved head. ''I never let anyone define me neither by hair nor clothing as I believe God made me perfect as a pure, natural African woman,'' she said.

Donald Trump, who now co-owns the contest with NBC, says the Miss Universe Organization has redefined beauty pageants.

''With each passing year our ratings continue to get better because of the beautiful and intelligent women who participate in our competitions,'' he declared.

But the Miss Universe competition is still judged solely on an interview and swimsuit and evening gown competitions, continuing a tradition that began with a spat over a swimsuit more than 50 years ago. California's Pacific Mills clothing company launched the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants after the 1951 Miss America, Yolande Betbeze, refused to pose in its swimsuit.

Miss Universe is considered a wilder rival to Miss America, which offers scholarships and values its talent contest more than its swimsuit competition. Other than Vanessa Williams, who stepped down in 1984 after Penthouse published her nude photographs, Miss America has had relatively few scandals. But risque photos and public drunkenness have increasingly landed Miss USA and Miss Universe contestants in the tabloids.

Khadijah Shamillah Kiptoo a customer care representative is Miss Kenya.

Canadian playboy Calvin Ayre went down to Costa Rica a decade ago and began taking illegal bets over the Internet.

Now he’s worth $1 billion (see cover story). Making a billion just isn’t what it used to be. In its inaugural ranking of the world’s richest people 20 years ago FORBES uncovered some 140 billionaires. Just three years ago we found 476. This year the list is a record 793, up 102 from last year. They’re worth a combined $2.6 trillion, up 18% since last March. Their average net worth: $3.3 billion.

Strong stock markets around the world (the U.S. being the notable exception) contributed to this surge in wealth. India, whose BSE SENSEX market was up 54% in the past 12 months, is home to 10 new billionaires, more than any other country besides the U.S.

Notable newcomers include Tulsi Tanti, a former textile trader whose alternative energy company owns Asia’s largest windfarm; Vijay Mallya, the liquor tycoon behind Kingfisher beer; Kushal Pal Singh, India’s biggest real estate developer; and Anurag Dikshit (pronounced “dix-sit”), another online gaming mogul, who made his fortune when he and two Americans took their PartyGaming poker company public in London last June.

Russia, whose RTS stock exchange was up 108%, benefited from strong gains in commodities prices. The surge swelled the fortunes of its 33 billionaires, including 7 newcomers who join the list. China now has 8 billionaires, four times as many as last year. The U.S. is home to 44 new billionaires and commands nearly half of the fortunes on the roster.

Bill Gates retains his title as the world’s richest person for the twelfth straight year, proving that while it’s getting easier to make a billion, the same can’t be said for making $50 billion.

Twelve people return to the list. Thirty-nine people depart from it. Seven fortunes were broken up among family members, usually siblings, adding 15 individuals to the ranks. Seventy-eight women make the list, 10 more than last year, though only 6 are self-made. Hind Hariri, daughter of slain Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, who is eight months younger than Germany’s Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis, is, at 22, the list’s youngest member.

Swaziland's King Mswati III has bought 10 new BMW series 5 cars for his wives.

Swaziland's media reports that it has cost him $820,000. The 36-year-old king frequently hits the headlines with stories about his lavish lifestyle.