Remember Paul the Octopus? Well, the aquatic creature that became an instant celebrity during the 2010 World Cup by predicting outcome of eight matches, including the final between Spain and Netherlands, has died at an aquarium in Germany. If you’re a soccer fanatic, this should be devastating news Paul was about I year 11 months. Generally an octopus does not live beyond two years so his death was not unexpected but of course a big blow to all soccer enthusiasts. As we celebrate the death of a legend, we are at least consoled by the fact that he lived a fulfilled life and made an impact. A memorial is to be erected at the aquarium in his memory Paul the octopus picks Spain over Netherlands [youtube]Ya85knuDzp8[/youtube]
Sure, mosquitoes suck!
Celebrities join the fight against malaria.
Although malaria was eradicated in the United States nearly 60 years ago, it continues to claim the lives of more than 850,000 people every year, most of them children under the age of 5 in Africa.
Malaria No More has made it a mission to raise money and awareness for the cause, working with policymakers, companies and NGOs (including the United States Fund for UNICEF) to increase the availability of insecticide-treated bed nets that halt transmission of malaria by mosquitoes. Their goal: End malaria-related deaths in Africa by 2015.
Among their fundraising tools: A “Mosquitoes Suck” T-shirt.
Last year, the nonprofit made headlines after Ashton Kutcher hit one million Twitter followers, donated $100,000 and motivated his fellow celebs and followers to do so as well.
Now they’re moving in another direction with their Comedy Fights Malaria campaign, featuring viral videos and PSAs from 25 comedians and celebs.
Among those stepping up: Ed Helms and B.J. Novak of “The Office,” John Mayer, Elizabeth Banks, and Nick Kroll. Their video features footage from a trip to Senegal this summer where they witnessed the malaria epidemic firsthand.
“Comedy Fights Malaria is a fresh, different, and truly funny way to get people thinking about a serious opportunity to save lives,” said Novak, a creative force behind the campaign.
Also signed up: Aziz Ansari (“If malaria were a person I would kick it in the face!”), Will Arnett, Orlando Bloom, Ted Danson, Sarah Gilbert, Elliott Gould, Josh Groban, Rachel Harris, Jeremy Piven, and Jason Schwartzman.
Kroll brought his Jersey Shore-esque character Bobby Bottleservice to Africa, and came up with a novel solution to the epidemic: Get all the flies together by creating a club, complete with fist-pumping music and a goat DJ. (Uhm, Mr. Bottleservice, that’s mosquitoes we’re concerned about!)
Original story by CBS
XXX Blvd?
Highway officials in China are apologizing for ‘accidentally’ naming a road XXX. Town Hall committees members were debating naming the motorway in the southeastern province of Guangzhou in honour of local Communist Party leaders but they could not agree which one. They therefore marked the road “XXX” – perhaps forgetting what this could translate to in ‘other disciplines’ Three days after photographs of the sign began circulating on the Chinese internet, local authorities finally admitted the mistake and removed the sign. An official later said, “The city construction committee extends gratitude to the citizen who pointed out the mistake,” and “hopes public will continue to supervise their works.”
Not all ‘deaths’ are the same, at least in Ghana and Nigeria.
The people of West Africa, like people everywhere, acknowledge that death is not a choice. Some African communities, however, don’t accept the notion that one cannot choose how he or she takes it.
Now think about it, if you spend 3 hours at the mall flipping over every Victoria’s Secret lingerie or bra that you’ll probably use for a couple of months, if not weeks, why would you not spend more or at least a proportional length of time preparing for what will be a once-in-a-lifetime purchase, your coffins?
Well, that is exactly what carpenters (call them Coffin Designers) in Nigeria and Ghana are telling us to do. Walk through the streets of Ibadan (Nigeria) or Kumasi (Ghana) and the flashy, funky hard-to-describe coffins along major roadsides will leave you ‘flaberwhelmed’ (do you have a better word for being both flabbergasted and overwhelmed?)
Coffins in Nigeria and Ghana are designed not only for the fun of it but with a real message: your coffin should reflect your personality, profession, religion and even your level of accomplishment in life.
Are you a priest? You’ll get a Bible Coffin. A fisherman? You can spend the rest of your life in the belly of a whale (remember Jonah in the Bible?). A scientist can easily have an Erlenmeyer flask coffin designed for him or her. How about a ‘pen coffin’ for the academic?
There is an auto commercial I hear on one radio station which says that the inside of your car should reflect your personality. If this is true, why not have the same mentality for your coffin which is not a lease and shall never be subject to repossession.
You don’t have a choice as far as death is concern. The choice is yours, however, to die anyhow or die in style.
Leave Africa Alone, else…..Bin Laden Warns France
Al-Qaeda commander Osama Bin Laden has issued a warning to France to leave Africa alone or expect more of its nationals to be kidnapped. Bin Laden expresses anger at Paris’s policy domestically and in Africa.
The Al-Qaeda chief specifically fumes at the ban on the burka and niqab, the culture of face covering by Muslim women. This was made public in an audio recording submitted to Al Jazeera television. If you would remember, in September the North African wing of Al-Qaeda’s kidnapped five French citizens.
Bin Laden was quoted on the tape as saying “the reason why your security is being threatened and your sons are being taken hostage” is that “you intervene in the affairs of Muslims, in north and west Africa in particular” Bin Laden then added: “How could it be fair that you intervene in the affairs of Muslims, in North and West Africa in particular, support your proxies [agents] against us, and take a lot of our wealth in suspicious deals, while our people there suffer various forms of poverty and despair?” The Al-Qaeda group is seen as a significant threats to regions in Africa especially those experiencing political and economical instabilities.
The terror chief is not hiding his intention of assuming the role of a spokesperson for Africa. Recognizing that most African governments do not have the resources to deal with current problems, this is a threat that has to be taken seriously. In my opinion, fighting poverty and getting every school-age kid into school are the best weapons we can deploy against any radical Al-Qaeda in Africa
And the winner is……..
FIFA has released nominees for 2010 world player award. Chelsea’s and Ivory Coast’s no-nonsense striker Didier Drogba, Cameroon’s most decorated African player of all time, Samuel Eto’o and Ghana’s hitman Asamoah Gyan of Sunderland are among the nominees. Surprisingly, there are no English nominees, neither is Luis Suarez of Uraguay
World Player of the Year nominees: Xabi Alonso (Spain), Daniel Alves (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain).
World coach of the year nominees: Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea), Vicente del Bosque (Spain), Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United), Pep Guardiola (FC Barcelona), Joachim Loew (Germany), Jose Mourinho (Inter Milan/Real Madrid), Oscar Tabarez (Uruguay), Louis Van Gaal (Bayern Munich), Bert van Marwijk (Holland) and Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).
The winners will be revealed in Zurich on 10 January.
President Mugabe Ignores Pregnant Women and Spend 300,000 on a Reality Show
A United Nation multimedia radio reported on Tuesday October 25 that in Zimbabwe eight mothers die giving birth every day. Already infant mortality statistic is worrisome in the African country.
With the medical advances we have at this time in human history, this should not be acceptable.
After many years of reckless domestic and economic policies under Pres. Robert Mugabe, the heath care system of Zimbabwe is almost the worst that comes to mind. It is not difficult to understand why maternal death is that high in Zimbabwe. The economic situation almost excludes the likelihood of expecting mothers attending the hospital or clinic because they cannot afford to pay for the bills. Pregnant mothers in Zimbabwe go through their pregnancy term without any check ups. Last year, the Mugabe regime actually authorized hospitals and clinics to charge patients in foreign currency.
In some communities in Zimbabwe, it is luckiest of pregnant women who are able to obtain the services of community midwives. Even though some of the midwives are able to handle most common situations, they do not have the experience to handle the most challenging pregnancy complications, such as bacterial infection, gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia, obstetrical hemorrhage, and ectopic pregnancy. These require gynecologist and obstetricians.
The average Zimbabwean earns $1.50. It is therefore not unexpected that most of them depend on community midwives and are not able to see gynecologist. Approximately 100 children die daily in Zimbabwe daily due to easily preventable diseases.
Zimbabwe is among the top 6 countries in the world with the worse record on maternal mortality. In spite of this, President Mugabe doesn’t even pretend to have a clue or care. A few days ago, the president and the First Shopper spent $300,000 on a date with the loser of the reality show Big Brother Show. Consider this in the light of the standard of living in Zimbabwe and it may even appear pornographic.
The average Zimbabweans could live on this for 200,000 days! Even in the US with the highest cost of health care, the average cost to deliver at the hospital with a normal vaginal birth is about $15,000. This means the amount the president’s family spent with the Big Brother loser could handle 20 hospital births.
Maternal mortality and infant mortality is a big burden on African countries. The chance of a woman dying from complication of pregnancy or delivery is 1 in 15! in Africa; in North America it is 1 in 3750.
This is a fight that can be won, but it requires strong political will with multidisciplinary programs focusing on prevention and early management of complications. The figures are not good and so are those for malaria, but when was either of these a key manifesto in any election across the continent?
New scientific finding on mosquitoes is not good news on the malaria front
The research team of researchers from the University Of Notre Dame, the J.C. Venter Institute, Washington University and the Broad Institute are reporting that two strains of mosquitoes responsible for malaria in Africa are evolving at an unexpected rate into genetically distinct species. This is not good news as it will further complicate the tedious fight against malaria by creating a situation where strategies and medicines developed against malaria may not be effective against both strains
The studies were reported in the magazine Science. The two issues (Science 22 October 2010:Vol. 330. no. 6003, pp. 512 – 514; Science 4 October 2002:Vol. 298. no. 5591, pp. 115 – 117) suggest that the evolution process is occurring faster than previously thought, and point to already substantial differences in the two strains. The two species already able to exploit different habitats.
Malaria kills one child every 30 seconds worldwide, according to World Health Organization. The incidence could be higher in sub-Saharan African.
The work focused on the Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito that is the most transmitter of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. The study describes the two strains as “M” and “S” strains of the “Anopheles gambiae mosquito
What they found was that the mosquitoes are diverging into two different incipient species, which are called M and S forms. Physically, the two forms are cannot be distinguished, they are and able to interbreed, but their DNAs are diverging into different directions. Their behaviors are different under different conditions.
The ‘M’ form is usually found in around permanent bodies of water and spends most of its life in water environment. This means that it can thrive in dry areas that are normally not good habitats for malaria transmitting mosquitoes.
The S form is used to small, short-lived water bodies and breeds well during the rainy season. It is clear how these ‘tricks’ by the mosquito could undermine current efforts to combat the disease.
Work is ongoing to sequence the genome of the two forms of mosquitoes which could help us to decipher why they are different and how to devise ways to combat them more effectively.