Apr 30, 2009

An interesting news story about genetic variation in Africa and its implications for the global study and cure of diseases.
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By Randolph E. Schmid
The Associated Press Thursday, April 30, 2009

Africans have more genetic variation than anyone else on Earth, according to a new study that helps narrow the location where humans first evolved, probably near the South Africa-Namibia border.

The largest study of African genetics ever undertaken also found that nearly three-fourths of African-Americans can trace their ancestry to West Africa. The new analysis published Thursday in the online edition of the journal Science. "Given the fact that modern humans arose in Africa, they have had time to accumulate dramatic changes" in their genes, explained lead researcher Sarah Tishkoff, a geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania. People have been adapting to very diverse environmental niches in Africa, she explained in a briefing…..

Read more here….

Africans have world's greatest genetic variation

4/30/2009 07:08:00 PM , , ,

Apr 26, 2009

On behalf of the Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace (CCTP) and the McMaster Centre for Peace Studies, we are pleased to announce this year's 8th Annual Peace Education Conference in Canada focusing on the important theme of "bringing greater peace to our schools". Within this context, we will also be exploring the role of "gender and sexuality" and "social, spiritual and emotional intelligence" in advancing our goals towards a universal culture of peace.

Continuing our tradition from past years, this conference will be an opportunity for those passionate about educating for peace to converge, connect and reflect upon our commitments to peace and justice in this world. The core conference, hosted at McMaster University, will begin in the evening on Thursday, November 12th and come to a close in the afternoon on Sunday, November 15th. Together, we will explore how we can infuse the mainstream school system with peace education and peaceful educators. Through engaging workshops, inspiring speakers and focused reflections, we will learn new ways of being and teaching that better serve ourselves and our fellow learners.

See http://www.peace-education.ca/pec-2009 for more information.

8th Annual Peace Education Conference in Canada

4/26/2009 10:22:00 PM ,

Apr 18, 2009

There appears to be more to the problem of piracy off the Somali coast than the media would want us to believe. I am strongly opposed to piracy in any form and think that the international community needs to come together to find a lasting solution. That solution must of course begin with addressing the decade long chaos on the land in Somalia. It is ironic that the Somalia has once again come on our radars not because we now care about the plight of the long suffering people in that country but because the chaos there now threatens international commerce and by extension the lifestyles of those who can make a difference. Reminds me of the truism that what goes around comes around!

In a recent article in The Independent of London, journalist Johann Hari argues that we are being lied to about pirates. Some of these AK 47 wielding Somali men, he argues, are clearly just gangsters. But others are trying to stop illegal dumping and trawling. Not everyone agrees with Johann Hari but I think his effort to present the other side of this story, one that is clearly missing from the mainstream media narrative is commendable.

Johann Hari: You are being lied to about pirates
Some are clearly just gangsters. But others are trying to stop illegal dumping and trawling

Who imagined that in 2009, the world's governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy – backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China – is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labelling as "one of the great menaces of our times" have an extraordinary story to tell – and some justice on their side.

Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the "golden age of piracy" – from 1650 to 1730 – the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage Bluebeard that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often saved from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains Of All Nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence...

Read more here...

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates-1225817.html

Pirates and Piracy on the Somali Coast: It shouldn’t only be about commerce

4/18/2009 11:54:00 PM , , , ,
Excerpts from a documentary on the challenges of Economic Development and Nation Building in Africa (Producer: Andrew Younger, 2002)

From Dust to Gold

4/18/2009 11:10:00 PM , , ,
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