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This archive holds all posts form November 2013.
Guide to Stop-and-Frisk
November 20, 2013 • Jessie Daniels • criminal justice, NYC, police
We've blogged here before about the issue of racial discrimination in the stop-and-frisk policing practice in New York City. There is lots of data that shows stop-and-frisk is discriminatory, harmful to communities and is not effective at "getting guns off the streets," as is frequently claimed by advocates of the policing strategy. And, it's very likely unconstitutional.
(Image source)
Bill diBlasio, the newly elected mayor of New York City, has promised to end stop-and-frisk and that means there is a new future ahead for the city and the communities most affected by this policy.
In an effort to assess where we are with stop-and-frisk, what the data shows, and how scholars, activists and journalists have worked to change this policy, JustPublics@365, a project of the Ford Foundation based at the CUNY-Graduate Center (and that I lead), recently curated a series on this topic. And now, that series has been compiled as an all-in-one guide to stop-and-frisk (pdf)
The Information Guide is structured around three levels of social justice outcomes:
Make Your Issues Their Interest: Raising Awareness About An Issue with an Audience
Make Your Issue Their Issue: Getting an Audience More Deeply Engaged in An Issue
Make Your Issue Their Action: Moving an Audience Towards a Specific Action
If you are teaching a class or training people in your organization, you can also use this Information Guide as a tool for teaching and learning about stop-and-frisk.
You can download the guide(pdf) and reuse it for teaching, research, activism or media.
Where "Old" and "New" World Color Meet in Multiracial Asian America
November 18, 2013 • Sharon Chang • "model minority", Asian Americans
"Rare indeed is the Asian American who has not heard an aunt or grandmother say something like; 'Don't go out in the sun. You'll get too dark'…[Asian countries have] had long-standing preferences for light skin, especially in women."
— Is Lighter Better? Skin-Tone Discrimination Among Asian Americans
In my continuing research examining the lives of young multiracial Asian children, it has become pretty clear pretty quick that colorism (skin color discrimination of individuals falling within the same racial group) is a major theme. This isn't a surprise to me, a multiracial Asian woman who grew up constantly scrutinized and measured as more European looking against other Asian peoples. I launched an Amazon hunt and as usual, found very little. In fact almost nothing; only one book addressing colorism in the Asian American community: Is Lighter Better? Skin-Tone Discrimination Among Asian Americans by Joanne L. Rondilla and Paul Spickard (2007) (if you know of more, please send to me).
According to Rondilla & Spickard, colorism in Asia is less about wanting to look European and more a class imperative. "To be light is to be rich, for dark skin comes from working outside in the sun…the yearning to be light is a desire to look like rich Asians, not like Whites" (Rondilla & Spickard, 2007, p.4). A preference for light-skinned beauty existed long before serious encounters with Europeans and Americans, and this desire deeply persists. Though not visibly common in the US, skin lightening products are loudly advertised and mass-consumed all over Asia. And sales are rising. Two million units of skin lightening soap are sold annually in the Philippines. Today, every major cosmetics company has some form of skin lightener (Rondilla & Spickard, 2007).
So what happens when huge numbers of Asian immigrants (430,000 in 2010) and students (6 in 10 international students are from Asia) start arriving Stateside and their colorist/class values meet US racism which has aggressively devalued and violently oppressed dark-skinned people for hundreds of years? What happens when White Perfect (above) meets Jim Crow? "Less yellowish" meets Yellow Peril?
On the one hand, it's a complicated catch-22. Overlay the former with the latter and we certainly get a compounded but also confused effect. As Rosalind S. Chou and Joe R. Feagin note in their book The Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism, "Asian Americans frequently embrace stereotypes created by whites about other groups, as well as the racist notions that whites have created for Asians" (p.138).
Asian Americans often manifest "old world" inspired, "new world" enhanced colorism at the same time they find themselves victimized by the same system; targeted as people of color. Rock and a hard place, right? Take for instance American born Lucy Liu, still one of the few Asian TV and film stars, who has publicly bemoaned racism in Hollywood yet stirred controversy last year when she let slip a disparaging remark about Filipino skin color on Jay Leno.
On the other hand, the oppression of dark-skinned people, whether in Asia or America, is exactly what it is — the oppression of dark-skinned people. I often run into folks who try to differentiate the two histories of discrimination as totally disparate, unrelated and incompatible things. Sometimes to excuse immigrant colorist behaviors as eccentric or somehow less offensive because they technically aren't rooted in racism. Sometimes to dismiss the possibility of any compounded and damaging internalized effects to Asian American children through their combination. But in our increasingly interdependent world, how can we pretend the cultural values of one continent are not influenced and impacted by the values of the other? When I was a young girl my father told me if I ever married a Black man he'd disown me. Even that young I remember being totally shocked by his unapologetic and vocal bias, something I continued to live with and object to my entire youth (though my protests always seemed to fall on deaf ears). My father was born and raised in Taiwan, a place that was and still mostly remains pretty Asian-homogenous. He immigrated to the United States when he was in his 20s at which point he'd had very little exposure to any kind of Black be it African, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, African American, whatever. Yet despite his limited exposure to racial diversity growing up and the fact he himself was often targeted as an immigrant/person of color later living in the US, as an adult he harbored very extreme American prejudices against historically targeted American racial groups.
Chou & Feagin point out Asian immigrants often have preconceived stereotypes about Blacks before they even immigrate because of contact with American mainstream media operating overseas, a major source of negative typecasting for Mexican and African Americans (among others) (Chou & Feagin, 2010):
The impact of U.S. racism is not confined to the borders of the United States. Indeed, U.S. economic, political, military, and mass media power makes the country very important, indeed often dominant, in many global settings. The United States not only exports commercial goods but also propagates important ideals and ideas as well. The U.S. media are very influential and perpetuate important aspects of the white racial frame to many countries around the world. Certain U.S.-oriented products and their advertising also spread a U.S. racial framing (Chou & Feagin, 2010, pp.170-171).
Where does this leave multiracial Asian Americans born into these overlapping frameworks? I'm afraid that as multiracial Asian Americans, this leaves us poised very precariously at times. Despite what you might imagine, with the recent influx of Asian immigration and Asians marrying out of their ethnic group at a higher rate than any other racial group, multiracial Asian children are not actually that far removed from "old world" prejudices and are often second generation Americans like myself. I have been constantly scanned for Asian versus white features by Asian immigrants and proclaimed "the best of both worlds" leaving me with the uncomfortable, highly racialized feeling there's something I did or didn't get that I should be glad about but that one or both of my halves might resent. In my October post "Mixed Heritage and Knowing We Still Have Work To Do," I described the race challenges shared by a quarter Asian youth panelist (Black/Asian/white) as part of a local mixed heritage dialogue. Despite identifying strongly as Blasian:
12 yo Saiyana, a child of our future and proud of her mixed heritage, showed us that race mythologies/oppressions persist. She related being profiled by a museum security guard who identified her as Black at the same time Black peers at school refuse to acknowledge her multiraciality.
Even in Rondilla & Spickard's well-researched book something funny around mixed race people seems to be happening. In their study, they asked participants asked to respond to pictures of 3 different women of varying skin tones from lightest to darkest. The "fairest of them all," as designated by the researchers, appears to be multiracial, something alluded to, but not confirmed in the book. The other two do not appear to be multiracial.
Why would only one woman be mixed race? Why not choose either 3 mixed race Asian woman OR 3 monoracial Asian women? And if only one mixed race woman was going to be chosen, why would she be the light one?
There is a conversation we aren't having about specifically colorism in Asian America and the way it impacts the lives of mixed race children. For example, how are darker-skinned Black/Asians versus lighter-skinned white/Asians received within their families, within the Asian American community, and society at large?
In her book Pure Beauty: Judging Race in Japanese American Beauty Pageants, Rebecca Chiyoko King-O'Riain points out that despite growing acceptance of mixed race children in the Japanese American community:
The idea of racial hierarchies perpetuated by the Japanese American community is evidenced in the community beauty pageants. There have been few if any African American/Japanese American mixed-race queen candidates and none has been successfully chosen to be queen (King-O'Riain, 2006, p.38).
How do phenotype and issues of blood quantum complicate this conversation? What is it like for children like Saiyana who are a quarter or less Asian and may not wear Asian racial markers that signal loudly to others, yet who identify strongly as being so? Given that multiracial Asian is a fast-growing demographic and will soon constitute a larger and larger portion of our population, I think we have to ask ourselves these hard questions. Certainly not at the exclusion of other discussions central to multiraciality but definitely as an important part of the larger conversation.
What is it like for multiracial Asians with different skin colors/heritages sitting at a crossroads where "old world" Asian colorism and "new world" US racism meet?
~ Guest blogger Sharon Chang writes regularly at MultiAsian Families.
The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross
November 13, 2013 • Jessie Daniels • African Americans, digital video, video
There is an amazing series airing on PBS this fall, "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross." The documentary series is produced and narrated by Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and made possible, in part, by JustFilms of the Ford Foundation, The Hutchins Family Foundation, as well as corporate sponsors. I mention the sponsorship at the top because you can see how the deep-pocketed funding pays off in this well-crafted, beautifully told, and thoroughly researched series.
The episodes include a wide sweep of just over 400 years of history, beginning with The Black Atlantic (1500-1800), The Age of Slavery (1800-1860), Into the Fire (1861-1896), and the most recent, Making a Way Out of No Way (1897-1940). Still to come are Rise! (1940-1968), and It's Nation Time (1968-2013).
Each episode blends Gates' avuncular narration and interviews with leading scholars and experts on African American culture with solid scholarship and a compelling visual style. These are also travelogues as we follow Gates re-tracing the steps of the African diaspora, across the Atlantic, to the American south, and then North and West through the great migration.
The tone of the series is on emphasizing the rather profound resilience, innovation, and resourcefulness of the African American people. Yet, it simultaneously takes an unflinching look at the centuries of white oppression that changes shape over time but remains a brutal, nefarious, and life-threatening constant. In my view, it strikes just the right balance between these two, always emphasizing how African American folks were able to "make a way out of no way," while never pulling any punches about the unrelenting nastiness of white racism and the cruelty of institutional oppression.
(More Famous Quote Posters from PBS)
There are so many people in the US – the overwhelming majority, I think it's safe to say – who do not know this history. To our great, collective shame this history is not part of the K-12 curriculum, and most adults will only learn it if they choose to take a "Black History" class in college. My hope is that this remarkable series might be incorporated into more curricula, as it was clearly designed to do.
The series airs on PBS through November 26, check your local listings as they say. And, many clips and several full length videos are available online.
White Supremacism as Meme: How Reddit is Breeding a New Generation of Violent Racism
November 11, 2013 • Jesse Spafford • cyber racism, racism, whiteness
"4chan is leaking." This is what users of the link sharing website Reddit say when they see a certain sort of comment, typically a personal anecdote that begins plausibly but rapidly escalates into the outlandish and the perverse. It is a style characteristic of some of the message boards of 4chan, a more insular online forum whose community is drawn towards entertainment of the more shocking and/or titillating variety. To say that 4chan is leaking is to identify a Redditor as being a member of both communities, a dual citizen who carries to Reddit the distinctive discourse of 4chan.
If 4chan leaks then Reddit floods. In Facebook statuses, comment sections, and twitter streams the signifiers of Reddit abound, proliferated by its users. Sometimes it is the signature constellation of interests and topics that reveal a Redditor. She might be relaying some pithy slogan about the importance of digital freedom, the cultural significance of bacon, or the deeply flawed nature of Internet Explorer. Or she might be saying "For science!" or "tl;dr…" or "So brave!" or "I see what you did there!" or "I, for one, welcome our new _____ overlords," or "Shut up and take my money!" or "An' Frankly, I did Nazi that coming!" or "Faith in humanity restored!" or any of the other phrases peculiar to Reddit.
It is a strange feature of human sociality that a person's online activity is revealed in her speech. We conceive of ourselves as free agents, yet channel the expressions and ideas of our associates to the point where our words serve as recognizable signs of group membership. In such communal expressions we see that culture is not merely an explanation for the strangeness of distant others, but, rather, is something universal, manifested in all of us.
But how does the community come to modify and inflect our behavior in this way? The answer lies in the iconography of Reddit, the pictures and bold white capital letters of the Internet meme. In the context of the Internet, a meme is an image or type of image accompanied by a caption that follows a formula particular to the meme. The classic example is the lolcat, a meme wherein text is superimposed over a picture of a cat to describe its present state from its own, half-witted perspective: "I can has prom date?" asks the kitten wearing the bow tie.
On Reddit, visitors will see more contemporary memes, ones particular to the site. Inarticulate cats have been replaced by a set of characters that pass on bits of Reddit conventional wisdom via macro text. Some relay explicit advice while others pick out everyday moments that are common but not often discussed, the airing of which lets viewers feel a shared sense of experience. It's a new package on an old tradition, the latest not-so-funny reincarnation of Jerry Seinfeld's "Have you ever noticed…" monologues. More importantly, these images embody Reddit's close association with "memes" as understood in a more technical sense: ideas (or behavior) that replicates through non-genetic transmission.
Reddit is an ideal platform for meme transmission. According to a recent Pew Poll, six percent of all American adults who use the Internet are Reddit users. This sizable audience represents an army of potential hosts for memes—a potential that is readily converted into actualized adoption and propagation via the participatory nature of Reddit. By having the audience contribute all of its content, Reddit encourages people to not merely consume its devices and truisms but to adopt them as their own, to internalize and redisseminate them like an animal regurgitating a recent meal so as to eat it again.
This recursive process is powered by a democratic points system wherein Redditors are awarded "karma" for each "upvote" that their submitted content receives. Content that draws a high number of upvotes will then float to the top of the site, giving it greater visibility. Through this system, Redditors are incentivized to post the content that they believe will garner upvotes—and the surest method for achieving this end is to mimic what has been successful in the past.
The most brazen form of content mimesis is the "repost," where a Redditor resubmits someone else's highly-upvoted content in the hope that it will be highly-upvoted once again. Beyond this blatant duplication, however, there are countless shades of karma-seeking imitation, ranging from the repackaging of a popular idea to the use of a popular package for a new idea. Thus, while only a few users resort to exact imitation, Reddit nonetheless ends up filled with the repeated catchphrases and concepts of the meme.
The spread of such concepts beyond the parameters of Reddit reflects the platform's unparalleled ability to incubate memes. With its millions of users, the site has a huge pool of contributing talent to generate the content from which a meme might emerge. At the same time, the voting system provides users with near-instant feedback, allowing them to refine their submissions and perfect their intuitive sense of what will go viral. And, since the most popular content also becomes the most visible, users are provided with a gold standard to mimic and draw upon for inspiration. This combination results in a site capable of churning out highly-seductive and transmissible catchphrases—ones so powerful that they have spread far beyond the boundaries of Reddit to the anglophonic culture at large.
Indeed, the memes of Reddit are bred so strong that they easily displace locally-grown culture, filling up individuals' cultural vocabularies at the expense of their own unique or subcultural expressions and ideas. The result is a striking homogenization of culture wherein New York Times columnists parrot the idioms of webcomics made by pre-teens, categories like the fedora-wearing "neckbeard" are widely-shared, and Reddit observations like the trite "deliciousness of bacon" meme are near-impossible to avoid. Although there are few quantitative measures that might confirm the observation, Redditisms seem ubiquitous in the broader cultural discourse to the point where they have begun to drown out localized cultural variation and diversity.
Whether this growing homogeneity seems worthy of lament will vary according to one's taste. For those who thrive on novelty and originality, the Redditization of culture is a disaster, with cultural content devolving into an endless repetition of the same set of tired banalities. By contrast, those who enjoy familiarity and the sense of community that comes with shared expression will find comfort in a cultural world bound together by interlacing memes.
Such evenhandedness is harder to muster when it comes to Reddit's mimetic influence on politics. Just as pictures of cats and affirmation of bacon circulate as memes, so, too, do ideology and political argument. Bits of reasoning are picked up and redeployed in debates by those who find them clarifying or whose presuppositions the arguments support. This circulation of ideas is particularly visible on Reddit where the same debates are had over and over again, each successive iteration providing participants with the opportunity to refine their arguments and try out whatever new ones they have picked up in the intervening period. The most appealing of these get then get upvoted, and the same meme-generating process that spews catch-phrases across the Internet manifests itself again, now with arguments as its object.
Were Reddit an ideologically-diverse site, the mimetic process might be understood as making dialectical progress, with different schools of thought co-evolving to the point where perhaps some reconciliation might be reached. In point of fact, however, the overwhelming majority of Redditors share a narrow set of ideological presuppositions—the result being a site that more closely resembles a crowd-sourced think tank generating ever more infectious arguments for dissemination to the masses.
Most of the ideologies promoted by Reddit are fairly benign—e.g., anti-interventionism, science-based skepticism, support for marijuana legalization, a distaste for intellectual property, and others. Reddit is not, as some have so glibly misdescribed it, a collection of "Ayn Rand Spark Notes," but, rather, leans strongly towards economic populism, with large quantities of scorn regularly heaped on those who espouse even the slightest hint of Randianism or principled libertarianism. In more general terms, the Reddit Consensus lies somewhere on the leftward side of the Democratic Party with the average Redditor concerned about inequality, in favor of LGBT rights, and supportive of government spending and moderate redistribution.
What is troubling, though, is that such innocuous politics now coexist with a rising tide of racism that is slowly engulfing the site. Reddit has long been reactionary when it comes to the politics of race and gender, but typically that has taken the more-moderate form of the privileged person who petulantly drags his feet in resistance to the implication that he has done something wrong or is the beneficiary of injustice. Thus, while the average Redditor might have habitually bashed the /r/ShitRedditSays subreddit—a subforum whose subscribers call out problematic attitudes and speech—his attacks often seemed motivated more by a fear of one day being an ShitRedditSays target than an affirmation of sexist or racist tenets. Thus, while Redditors have disappointingly exhibited a greater ability to empathize with those who might be publicly embarrassed for holding oppressive opinions than those actually oppressed by such opinions, popular regard for the opinions themselves has always seemed limited to a few extremist subreddits.
Recently, however—and particularly on the subject of race—Reddit seems to be increasingly dominated by argument-memes that are explicitly anti-egalitarian with respect to identity. Whether it is the frequent discussions of "black crime," KKK apologism (related: holocaust apologism), or just explicit bigotry, the comments on Reddit when race is brought up have come to resemble those found on explicitly white supremacist forums. Though difficult to quantify, it is a trend that many Redditors have noted—a proliferation of racism that appears to be less of an outside invasion than an internal mutation which, by means of mimesis, has spread like cancer throughout the body. Meanwhile, antiracists appear to have largely retreated from the most popular subreddits, abandoning the bulk of Reddit territory to their antagonists.
This process has been fueled by an active core of racist ideologues who devote significant time and attention to proselytizing on Reddit. These demagogues—who inhabit subreddits with charming names like /r/whiterights, /r/whitepride, and /r/niggers—seek to piggyback on Reddit's anti-PC sentiment by passing off pernicious stereotypes as "I'm going to hell for this"-type jokes. And, of course, any time the white supremacist trope of "black crime" can be worked into a discussion, these extremists will be on hand to insert their propaganda.
These tactics are further augmented by "brigading"—a Reddit term for when an organized group of ideological Redditors swarm a given thread and vote up the comments they agree with and downvote those that contradict their views. Though the practice is officially outlawed on Reddit, it is difficult to prevent, and is proven in its effectiveness when it comes to swaying popular opinion. One recent study has shown that that people are more likely to upvote something that has already received an upvote—particularly when the subject pertains to politics, culture, and society. The implication is that brigading influences how people perceive a comment's quality; by upvoting arguments en masse, ideological Redditors can make their views seem popular, reasonable, and moderate. At the same time, downvoting comments makes them less visible, effectively burying opposing views under ideologically-favorable material.
(A variant of this meme was once highly-upvoted on Reddit. Image Source)
While certain subreddits brigade spontaneously in knee-jerk outrage, the racists of Reddit have explicitly embraced the tactic as a means of popularizing their message. Indeed, the Reddit administrators recently banned /r/niggers for repeatedly and unapologetically engaging in the practice, while blocking some of the more vitriolic users from the site entirely. Whether the bans have been effective in curbing the racist brigades is unclear. However, even if effective, they seem too little, too late, with racist vote manipulation having apparently already established a grassroots racism that renders the practice superfluous.
Even more concerning is the possibility that the racist ideology on Reddit will be translated into violent practice. Reddit's tendency to spawn outrage and malicious mobs is already well-documented. The medium is conducive to such behavior, spawning outrage through decontextualization. On Reddit, interested parties can present their side of the story as though it were the whole truth—a limited framing that obscures the complexity and mitigating factors that might exonerate the accused. In this way, complex human conflicts arising from legitimate differences are too often reduced to the sort of morality plays capable of inciting self-righteous mobs to seek vengeance. Combine this tendency with engrained racism and one cannot help but worry that IRL lynch mobs might emerge once again.
If this seems alarmist, consider the recent Reddit thread with the Stormfront-worthy title "Racist black kids bully white toddler" that had to shutter the comments section due to witch-hunting and the revelation of personal information. Or, the fact that when a video circulated of a (black) security guard tossing out a belligerent (black) woman and tasering her, Redditors heavily upvoted a post stating "If someone tells me this is black culture…. it needs to be eradicated," before donating over $23,000 to better arm and equip him. Similarly, in the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin murder, a white supremacist member of neighboring 4chan's fringe-right /pol/ board hacked into Martin's email in an effort to discredit the slain teen and exonerate his killer. These examples are just some of the more visible incidents and, while some are more clear-cut instances of violent white supremacism than others, they all lend substantial credence to the idea that an increasingly-racist Reddit might give rise to more organized racial harassment.
Beyond this terror, there is no small disappointment in witnessing the co-optation of what is otherwise a striking technological platform. On Reddit, millions of people with wildly different backgrounds come together to exchange ideas and debate politics as equals (insofar as one's identity is protected). In this respect, it is an impressive realization of democratic communicative potential, the logical conclusion of the process that was first sparked by the invention of the printing press or even the written word. The fact that white supremacists have managed to subvert this emerging communicative space to further racial hatred is mortifying.
Yet the struggle for the future of Reddit—and, by extension, the public sphere—is not over. The political left has devoted much time and attention to critiquing Reddit, but it now needs to embrace the forum—to upvote early and often so as to sway the undecided away from the fringe right. At the same time, the comments section on Reddit provides the unique opportunity of reaching millions of people who would never think to pick up a copy of Dissent from a newsstand. The white supremacists are already capitalizing on this captive audience. It's time the left pushed back.
~ Guest blogger Jesse Elias Spafford (@jessespafford) is a research assistant at the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at The George Washington University. He enjoys writing about power, politics, and culture.
The Myths around White "Merit"
November 10, 2013 • Joe • affirmative action, African Americans, Americans of color, employment, systemic racism, white elites, white privilege, white racial frame, whites
Systemic racism persists and flourishes in this country because of an extensive set of racial myths created long ago and aggressively perpetuated by whites in major institutions of this society, decade after decade.
Given this white myth-making, empirical data on what is actually the case often become "radical."
Consider this pervasive belief. Whites publicly assert that they get most of their jobs over their lifetimes only or mainly because of their merit and abilities. They pedal this fiction to everyone they can, and indeed get many folks of color also accept it as true.
The problem is that it is mostly a grand fiction.
For example, recently conducting hundreds of white interviews, sociologist and university dean Nancy DiTomaso has demonstrated well the important social networking patterns that reproduce great racial inequalities in U.S. employment patterns. Her many white respondents reported that they have long used acquaintances, friends, and family–their personal networks–to find most of the jobs secured over lifetimes of job hunting. That is, they use exclusionary networks. DiTomaso calls this a societal system of "opportunity hoarding." It is, more bluntly, institutionalized racial privilege and favoritism.
These empirical findings flatly contradict the colorblind view of our employment world propagated by many Americans, and especially most white Americans– that is, the view that in the U.S. economy jobs are secured mainly or only because of personal "skills, qualifications, and merit." Yet, wherever they can, most white job seekers admit that they typically avoid real job market competition and secure most of their jobs by using their usually racially segregated social relationships and networks.
And, even more strikingly perhaps, most whites do not even care that they benefit so greatly from such an unjust non-merit system—one that exists because of the 400 years that systemic racism has created a huge array of white material, social, and psychological privileges. In her many white interviews DiTomaso did not one white respondent ever openly expressing concern about their use of this highly unjust non-merit system.
Her data also flatly refute other common notions of white virtue. Whites contend that they are now the victims of "reverse racism" and "reverse discrimination," two white-crafted terms and notions–in more recent versions of the dominant white racial frame–that are primarily designed to deflect attention from the society's fundamental and foundational white racism.
In her white interviews Ditomaso found that the persisting opposition by most whites to affirmative action is not so much about fear of "reverse discrimination," but much more about the way in which effective affirmative action programs have sought to weaken these centuries-old patterns of institutionalized favoritism for whites–including institutionalized bias favoring whites in competition for society's better-paying jobs.
She found In the nearly 1,500 job situations that her respondents talked about in detailed interviews, she found only two situations where a white person might have conceivably lost a job because of an affirmative action effort on behalf of black Americans. Empirical demonstration of yet another white fiction.
The real societal worlds, when it comes to jobs and much else in the way of white wealth, assets, and privileges, are not those fictional worlds of distinctive merit and white disadvantage propagated by many, and especially conservative, whites—including those "well-educated" whites who serve on our high courts and in our legislatures.
Empirical data on how white-generated racism operates in the real world, once again, are themselves radical.
Devil's Night: Black Beneficiaries of White Racism
November 1, 2013 • Athena and Joe • African Americans, history, housing, systemic racism, urban, urban revolts
In need of a house? Affordable housing? Detroit has an abundance of housing with prices unimaginable to most Americans. You can purchase a large spacious home for as low as $100 or less in the underprivileged areas that span for many square miles throughout the city. You might lack public services ordinarily taken for granted in most places, such as police services and street lights. There has been such a surplus of vacant properties that Detroit's been burning them down. In 2010 there was an estimate of 70,000 burned houses which does not include vacant buildings and those numbers continue to rise with each passing year. Where else in the world would homes that might be considered the picturesque of "the American Dream" be regularly set on fire despite the fact that this nation has its fair share of people who are homeless and/or in dire need of housing?
Devil's Night in Detroit is when the most fires are set and typically begins on October 30th and runs through the 31st. People from other communities and states travel into the city to join forces with the local residents to help with their local adopt home and other property efforts against arson, as well as bolster local medical, safety, and first response services. In this light, the evening has been redefined as, "Angel's Night."
(Image from Flickr)
During the early 20th century, Detroit, "The Motor City," was a growing industrialized city and predominately white prior to the 1920's. In fleeing the Jim Crow of the south, Blacks began to migrate into the Detroit area during the late 1920's on through the 70's only to find they were equally unwelcome. Often met with violent racial hostility by the existing residents and police brutality, social exclusion from employment coupled with housing segregation, Blacks were blocked from equally participating in white society. With the deep seated feelings of entitlement, the settled whites who were already competing with each other for existing opportunities and resources in the Detroit area channeled much of their venomous fears and frustrations onto the Black communities who, like they, were seeking better lives.
The systemic racial issues bottled up coupled with rise of the Civil Rights Movements gave rise to race riots of the 60's throughout the nation bringing down the racial apartheid. Detroit had the largest riots in the nation resulting in the enactment of Marshall Law on three different occasions. As the apartheid was being dismantled a Black middle class began to emerge where shortly after, the city fell into rapid economic decline. In direct response to desegregation, white flight took hold resulting in resegregation with the nation's wealth and privileges being concentrated into the predominately white suburbs and higher social classes throughout the nation. In 1950 Detroit's population peaked with 1,849,568 and declined to 713,777 in 2010. Rather than integrate, much of white society chose to abandon their business and residential property.
Nothing exemplifies white privilege more than with the abandoned properties throughout Detroit. Most of us are required to properly dispose of our unwanted belongings. Black Detroit residents are the primary beneficiaries of these major social problems and toxic environmental issues. In 2010, the population of Detroit was 82.7% Black and 10.6% white with the State of Michigan having 14.2% Black and 78.9% white populations with black inmates representing 55% of the total prison population. Detroit is the poorest city in the nation with 1 in 3 residents living in poverty and many others living near poverty. There are still some very wealthy residents in Detroit, but they live in segregation on the outskirts of the city.
Detroit has the highest murder and missing person rates. These issues may play some role in the highest arson rates as well. As noted by the Detroit fire fighters above, to some degree vandalism has been the culprit, but there are a combination of reasons ranging from desperation where residents set fires to polluted houses that have been abandoned with rotting trash or that pose other social and environmental threats (vigilante fires) to sometimes revenge. Arson is a mechanism the residents have resorted to as a means to correct their immediate problems since the city either will not, or cannot.
But further, some locals believe that the general public is deliberately misled on the level of arson carried out by the residents as some of the power holders of the city are believed to be financially vested with local demolition contractors. It is cheaper to remove burned down houses than those fully intact. This destruction is a form of social expression from abandoned and socially neglected voices. It is revolt as Feagin and Hahn (1973) outlined in their earlier work on Detroit riots, to the many forms of racism that have championed the abuse and neglect of Black communities throughout history on into current times. With the effects of deindustrialization compounded with ongoing blocked legitimate means of survival and societal abandonment, it is no wonder the thousands upon thousands of houses representing the very icon of the American Dream have been set on fire many times over. What American Dream?


Swollen, bleeding, and tender gums are just some of the signs of periodontal, or gum, disease. If left untreated, these symptoms can progress into tooth decay and tooth loss. The good news is that most cases of periodontal disease can be reversed with professional dental deep cleanings and good follow up hygiene at home.
If you have been diagnosed with periodontal disease do not delay treatment.
If you are experiencing inflamed gums, gingivitis, or any suspicious dental symptoms, please call our office to set up an appointment as soon as possible.
Dental deep cleanings are recommended for early to mid-stage periodontal disease. While early periodontal disease can be diagnosed based on observing the gum line, the most accurate form of diagnosis is when the dentist or hygienist, using a special instrument, probes between the gum and teeth. Probe depths up to 3mm are considered normal, depths of 5mm or more are considered to be indicative of periodontal disease. If your dentist observes periodontal disease, they will recommend that a deep cleaning be done as soon as possible.
The goal of dental deep cleanings is to remove the bacteria and debris that is causing the pocketing and inflammation so that the gums can return to normal. This involves scaling and root planning; your dentist or hygienist carefully working to remove bacteria, plague and tartar from the gum pockets, surrounding tissue, teeth, and roots. You may be required to take an antibiotic to assist in the healing process.
Your dentist will need to see you back for a follow up appointment to make sure that the gums are healing and returning to normal. After that, most patients can return to a 6-month cleaning and check-up schedule. However, it's important to have your dentist evaluate the best schedule for you. It's also important to practice good daily oral hygiene (brushing, flossing, and mouth wash) to help your gums and teeth stay healthy.


text:
Q: How to subtract a number from itself multiple times? I am trying to get user input for a number then a second number that tells the program how many times to do some basic math. I got the addition to work and the multiplication, but I am not sure how to get the subtraction to subtract a number from itself by the user selected number of times.
print "Please Enter a numeric value: ";  # get the first input from user

input1 = STDIN.gets.chomp!.to_i

puts ("\n" * 2)                           #Scroll the screen 3 times

print "Enter total number of times a value needs to be computed from #{input1} ";

input2 = STDIN.gets.chomp!.to_i

puts ("\n" * 2)

print "Addition : ", (input1.to_i * input2.to_i), "\n";
print "Subtraction : " , (input1.to_i - input2.to_i), "\n";
print "Multiplication : " , (input1.to_i ** input2.to_i), "\n";

A: How about:
print "Subtraction : " , input1.to_i-(input1.to_i*input2.to_i), "\n";

A: Here's the Ruby way
print "Subtraction : " , Array.new(input2,input1).inject(:-), "\n";

Ex:
1.9.3p448 :058 > Array.new(3,-5)
 => [-5, -5, -5]
1.9.3p448 :059 > Array.new(3,-5).inject(:-)
 => 5
1.9.3p448 :060 >
1.9.3p448 :061 >   Array.new(3,5)
 => [5, 5, 5]
1.9.3p448 :062 > Array.new(3,5).inject(:+)
 => 15
1.9.3p448 :063 >

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Dynamically overriding an abstract method in c# I have the following abstract class which CAN NOT be changed.
public abstract class AbstractThing {
   public String GetDescription() {
      return "This is " + GetName();
   }
   public abstract String GetName();
}

Now I would like to implement some new dynamic types from this like so.
AssemblyName assemblyName = new AssemblyName();
assemblyName.Name = "My.TempAssembly";
AssemblyBuilder assemblyBuilder = Thread.GetDomain().DefineDynamicAssembly(assemblyName, AssemblyBuilderAccess.Run);
ModuleBuilder moduleBuilder =  assemblyBuilder.DefineDynamicModule("DynamicThings");
TypeBuilder typeBuilder = moduleBuilder.DefineType(someName + "_Thing",
                TypeAttributes.Public |
                TypeAttributes.Class,
                 typeof(AbstractThing));
MethodBuilder methodBuilder = typeBuilder.DefineMethod("GetName",
                MethodAttributes.Public |
                MethodAttributes.ReuseSlot |
                MethodAttributes.Virtual |
                MethodAttributes.HideBySig,
                null,
                Type.EmptyTypes);

ILGenerator msil = methodBuilder.GetILGenerator();

msil.EmitWriteLine(selectionList);
msil.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

However when I try to instantiate via
typeBuilder.CreateType();

I get an exception saying that there is no implementation for GetName. Is there something I am doing wrong here. I can not see the problem.
Also, what would be the restrictions on instantiating such a class by name? For instance if I tried to instantiate via "My.TempAssembly.x_Thing" would it be availble for instantiation without the Type generated?

A: You have the wrong return type on the dynamically created function. It should be string instead of void:
typeBuilder.DefineMethod("GetName",
MethodAttributes.Public |
MethodAttributes.ReuseSlot |
MethodAttributes.Virtual |
MethodAttributes.HideBySig,
typeof(string),
Type.EmptyTypes);

A: I would use Func instead. It doesn't require reflection to dynamically change the method.
public class AbstractThing {
   public String GetDescription() {
      return "This is " + GetName();
   }
   public Func<String> GetName { get; set; }
}

var thing = new AbstractThing();
thing.GetName = () => "Some Name"; // Or any other method
thing.GetDescription() == "This is Some Name";


I dreamt a dream I've dreamed before.
I dreamt that I had sailed with you.
"Come sail the world with me," you said.
Traveling, happy all our days.
The Sphinx that lies beneath the stars.
"We'll see Colossus, tall and true .
In Babylon, we'll walk 'mongst bouquets.
The Blackened Sea, we'll sail awhile.
He paused and waited for reply.
The moon reflecting in his eyes.
"The pyramids on high, I've seen.
Fields of wheat, and yards of green.
The blackened sea would not bring smiles.
"The sphinx, the deserts, kings of old.
They are spectacular, I'm told.
But, all those things are not for me.


text:
Demon Cleaner may refer to:

 Demon Cleaner (song), a song by Kyuss, from the album Welcome to Sky Valley
 Demon Cleaner (band), a Swedish stoner rock band

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Alice Vaughan (Mireille Enos) is LA's top private investigator — and the one woman you don't want to mess with. But when her fiancé (Peter Krause) cons her out of millions and disappears, Alice goes on a private mission for payback. No matter where it leads or the secrets she must keep along the way, Alice will stop at nothing to catch her man.
From the producers of "Scandal," "Greys Anatomy" and "How to Get Away with Murder," "The Catch" is a one-hour drama starring Mireille Enos, Peter Krause, Alimi Ballard, Jay Hayden, Jacky Ido, Rose Rollins, Elvy Yost and Sonya Walger.
The Catch is executive-produced by Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Allan Heinberg and Julie Anne Robinson.


text:
Q: Displaying value from Mysql db to Html5 bootstrap using PHP/Jquery Here's my codes
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>

    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

    <title>Control Panel</title>

    <link href="css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">

    <link href="css/font-awesome.min.css" rel="stylesheet">

    <link href="css/nprogress.css" rel="stylesheet">

    <link href="css/green.css" rel="stylesheet">

    <link href="css/dataTables.bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="css/buttons.bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="css/fixedHeader.bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="css/responsive.bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="css/scroller.bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">

    <link href="css/custom.min.css" rel="stylesheet">

                          S/N
                          Date
                          IP Address
                          Activation

                          get data from db
                          get data from db
                          get data from db
                          get data from db

PHP
<?php
$servername = "remotedbIP";
$username = "root";
$password = "Password";
$dbname = "installation";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

$sql = "SELECT id, date, ip, activate FROM software";
$result = $conn->query($sql);

if ($result->num_rows > 0) {

    while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
        echo "id: " . $row["id"]. " - date: " . $row["date"]. " - ip: " . $row["ip"].  " - activate: " . $row["activate"]. "
";
    }
} else {
    echo "0 results";
}
$conn->close();
?>

I am trying to display the data retrieved by the php file using the html table format with bootstrap. I am not sure how to do that. I tried to follow a few guidelines but I couldn't figure out. Any direction towards the right guideline or help would be really appreciated.
Also I am trying to hide the ID from the mysql db and instead show a locally displayed serial number, is it possible to achieve that, if yes how?
Thank you so much.

A: Step 1 .Put your database connection codes in database_connection.php
$servername = "remotedbIP";
$username = "root";
$password = "Password";
$dbname = "installation";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

Step 2. Than include the connection in header of  index page
include("database_connection.php");

Step 3. add these php code inside table tbody And remove the previous codes
<?php
$sql = "SELECT id, date, ip, activate FROM software";
$result = $conn->query($sql);

if ($result->num_rows > 0) {

    while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
         echo "
";
         echo " $row['id'] 	";
         echo " $row['date'] 	";
         echo " $row['ip'] 	";
         echo " $row['activate'] 	";
         echo "
";
    }
} else {
    echo "0 results";
}
$conn->close();
?>


text:
Dr Steven Nisbet's Lifelong Love of Organ Music
Alex Milne spoke to Dr Steven Nisbet OAM, who spent 42 years as organist and director of music at St Andrew's Uniting Church in Brisbane.
By Justin RouillonTuesday 21 Jun 2022Sunday CelebrationMusicReading Time: 2 minutes
Dr Steven Nisbet OAM has been playing the organ his entire life, with the retired maths lecturer now directing music for the Pilgrim People, a recognised faith community of the Uniting Church.
Beginning his organ studies at the age of 16, Steven learnt from the renowned cathedral organist Dr Robert Boughen OBE at St John's Cathedral in Brisbane.
Steven went on to serve through music at Wesley Methodist Church, Kangaroo Point, St Andrew's Anglican Church, South Brisbane and was the organist and director of music at St Andrew's Uniting Church, Brisbane, from 1979 to 2020.
He is now the organist for the Pilgrim People congregation who meet at the Merthyr Road Uniting Church in New Farm every Sunday afternoon. They also live stream and record the services to be used in retirement and nursing homes.
Steven told 96five's Alex Milne that he has been quite excited about the acquisition of a new organ at Merthyr Road, which has been put to good use in services.
"It's an Allen G330 digital organ which has three manuals and pedals; because it's digital it's very flexible. I can have one setting where it can sound like an English cathedral, another setting that sounds like Notre Dame in Paris, or a German Baroque organ."
"It's like a big computer and all the sounds have been digitised from real pipe organs and the sound that comes out is truly wonderful! It's very satisfying to play and the congregation just loves it; because we came from St Andrew's they're used to hearing a pipe organ and they appreciate good church music."
The Merthyr Road church previously had a pipe organ, which was installed in 1923 as a World War I soldiers memorial. The organ was removed and relocated to the Beaudesert Uniting Church in the early 1990's.
Steven said that that the Pilgrim People were especially interested in keeping alive the traditional hymns of the past.
"There's some wonderful hymns that have been written over the ages, and we're continuing the tradition of choral singing. Our Pilgrim singers have a wide repertoire of music from early church music all the way through to contemporary music."
The Pilgrim People meet every Sunday afternoon at 2:30pm in the Merthyr Road Uniting Church.
Listen to the full interview with Steven in the audio player above.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
January 17, 2021 | Secrets Behind Sunquakes May Lurk Beneath the Solar Surface
January 17, 2021 | Weird Asymmetry: Nights Warming Faster Than Days Across Much of the Planet
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January 17, 2021 | Science Made Simple: What Is Radioactivity?
Home Biology News
Researchers Evolve Bacteria That Consume CO2 for Energy
TOPICS:BacteriaCarbon DioxideCell PressGeneticsPopularSustainability
By Cell Press November 30, 2019
Over the course of several months, researchers in Israel created Escherichia coli strains that consume CO2 for energy instead of organic compounds. This achievement in synthetic biology highlights the incredible plasticity of bacterial metabolism and could provide the framework for future carbon-neutral bioproduction. The work appears November 27, 2019, in the journal Cell.
"Our main aim was to create a convenient scientific platform that could enhance CO2 fixation, which can help address challenges related to sustainable production of food and fuels and global warming caused by CO2 emissions," says senior author Ron Milo, at systems biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science. "Converting the carbon source of E. coli, the workhorse of biotechnology, from organic carbon into CO2 is a major step towards establishing such a platform."
The living world is divided into autotrophs that convert inorganic CO2 into biomass and heterotrophs that consume organic compounds. Autotrophic organisms dominate the biomass on Earth and supply much of our food and fuels. A better understanding of the principles of autotrophic growth and methods to enhance it is critical for the path to sustainability.
This diagram shows how researchers converted a common laboratory sugar eating (heterotrophic) E. coli bacterium (left) to produce all of its biomass from CO2 (autotrophic) by metabolic engineering combined with laboratory evolution. The new bacterium (center) uses the compound formate as a form of chemical energy to drive CO2 fixation by a synthetic metabolic pathway. The bacterium may provide the infrastructure for future industrial renewable production of food and green fuels (right). Credit: Gleizer et al.
A grand challenge in synthetic biology has been to generate synthetic autotrophy within a model heterotrophic organism. Despite widespread interest in renewable energy storage and more sustainable food production, past efforts to engineer industrially relevant heterotrophic model organisms to use CO2 as the sole carbon source have failed. Previous attempts to establish autocatalytic CO2 fixation cycles in model heterotrophs always required the addition of multi-carbon organic compounds to achieve stable growth.
"From a basic scientific perspective, we wanted to see if such a major transformation in the diet of bacteria—from dependence on sugar to the synthesis of all their biomass from CO2—is possible," says first author Shmuel Gleizer, a Weizmann Institute of Science postdoctoral fellow. "Beyond testing the feasibility of such a transformation in the lab, we wanted to know how extreme an adaptation is needed in terms of the changes to the bacterial DNA blueprint."
In the Cell study, the researchers used metabolic rewiring and lab evolution to convert E. coli into autotrophs. The engineered strain harvests energy from formate, which can be produced electrochemically from renewable sources. Because formate is an organic one-carbon compound that does not serve as a carbon source for E. coli growth, it does not support heterotrophic pathways. The researchers also engineered the strain to produce non-native enzymes for carbon fixation and reduction and for harvesting energy from formate. But these changes alone were not enough to support autotrophy because E. coli's metabolism is adapted to heterotrophic growth.
To overcome this challenge, the researchers turned to adaptive laboratory evolution as a metabolic optimization tool. They inactivated central enzymes involved in heterotrophic growth, rendering the bacteria more dependent on autotrophic pathways for growth. They also grew the cells in chemostats with a limited supply of the sugar xylose—a source of organic carbon—to inhibit heterotrophic pathways. The initial supply of xylose for approximately 300 days was necessary to support enough cell proliferation to kick start evolution. The chemostat also contained plenty of formate and a 10% CO2 atmosphere.
In this environment, there is a large selective advantage for autotrophs that produce biomass from CO2 as the sole carbon source compared with heterotrophs that depend on xylose as a carbon source for growth. Using isotopic labeling, the researchers confirmed that the evolved isolated bacteria were truly autotrophic, i.e., CO2 and not xylose or any other organic compound supported cell growth.
"In order for the general approach of lab evolution to succeed, we had to find a way to couple the desired change in cell behavior to a fitness advantage," Milo says. "That was tough and required a lot of thinking and smart design."
By sequencing the genome and plasmids of the evolved autotrophic cells, the researchers discovered that as few as 11 mutations were acquired through the evolutionary process in the chemostat. One set of mutations affected genes encoding enzymes linked to the carbon fixation cycle. The second category consisted of mutations found in genes commonly observed to be mutated in previous adaptive laboratory evolution experiments, suggesting that they are not necessarily specific to autotrophic pathways. The third category consisted of mutations in genes with no known role.
"The study describes, for the first time, a successful transformation of a bacterium's mode of growth. Teaching a gut bacterium to do tricks that plants are renowned for was a real long shot," Gleizer says. "When we started the directed evolutionary process, we had no clue as to our chances of success, and there were no precedents in the literature to guide or suggest the feasibility of such an extreme transformation. In addition, seeing in the end the relatively small number of genetic changes required to make this transition was surprising."
The authors say that one major study limitation is that the consumption of formate by bacteria releases more CO2 than is consumed through carbon fixation. In addition, more research is needed before it's possible to discuss the scalability of the approach for industrial use.
In future work, the researchers will aim to supply energy through renewable electricity to address the problem of CO2 release, determine whether ambient atmospheric conditions could support autotrophy, and try to narrow down the most relevant mutations for autotrophic growth.
"This feat is a powerful proof of concept that opens up a new exciting prospect of using engineered bacteria to transform products we regard as waste into fuel, food or other compounds of interest," Milo says. "It can also serve as a platform to better understand and improve the molecular machines that are the basis of food production for humanity and thus help in the future to increase yields in agriculture."
Reference: "Conversion of Escherichia coli to Generate All Biomass Carbon from CO2" by Shmuel Gleizer, Roee Ben-Nissan, Yinon M. Bar-On, Melina Shamshoum, Arren Bar-Even and Ron Milo, 27 November 2019, Cell.
This work was supported by the European Research Council, the Israel Science Foundation, the Beck-Canadian Center for Alternative Energy Research, Dana and Yossie Hollander, the Helmsley Charitable Foundation, the Larson Charitable Foundation, the Estate of David Arthur Barton, the Anthony Stalbow Charitable Trust, and Stella Gelerman, Canada. The authors declare a provisional patent related to the manuscript.
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3 Comments on "Researchers Evolve Bacteria That Consume CO2 for Energy"
Bonnie Davis | December 1, 2019 at 11:05 am | Reply
Now this is scary. A runaway situation dropping the essential carbon cycle below the threshold for plants to survive would wipe out life on earth. Humans so often work against themselves. Amazing we have succeeded as well as we have.
Bill Lamberts | December 1, 2019 at 1:09 pm | Reply
Your piece misinterprets this paper. CO2 is not an energy source here, it is the source of the organic carbon that the bacteria make. Autotrophy is not about where a cell gets its energy, it's about how cells get organic carbon. Autotrophs fix their own from inorganic sources (i.e., CO2), and may do so using chemical energy (chemotrophs) or light (phototrophs) to power this process. These bacteria were using organic carbon as energy sources, but were using CO2 as their carbon source.
Yudhistira | December 1, 2019 at 1:59 pm | Reply
This research is pointless. You have algae for that. Why bother converting e-coli to algae?
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Weird Asymmetry: Nights Warming Faster Than Days Across Much of the Planet
Dazzling Array of Complex Shapes Found in Planetary Nebulae Generated by Stellar Winds Interaction With Binary Companions
Laundry Lint Can Cause Significant Tissue and DNA Damage Within Marine Mussels
Science Made Simple: What Is Radioactivity?


text:
Nigeria at 60: The colonialists never left – they are Nigerian politicians By Fredrick Nwabufo
September 26, 2020 MacPhill Latest, News, Opinion and Essay 0
Newsie Events:– #Opinion
The British colonialists chucked the power console to the aborigines of Nigeria in 1960. Let me rephrase that. The British prowlers tossed power into the palm of native champions and ''non-functionally'' exited the dais before the close of 1960. But these infiltrators did not go with the evils and vices of their craft. The perils of colonialism remained. So, long after they are gone, the colonial construction still stands sturdy.
The political layout the British handed to Nigeria was fatally flawed. It was designed to perpetuate strife and disharmony. The Nigerian anatomy was deliberately contaminated. The interlopers' emulsion of disparate groups and their indulgence with a section of the country among others laid the pipeline for the unceasing ethnic and religious bursts.
The Nigerian nuptial is an unhappy one. We need not pretend about it. There may be no happy ending in this matrimony. The arrangement is a very inconvenient one — but that does not presuppose we gut the entity and leave its carcass. We must work at it. The disingenuity of the British has brought us together, and we have come far away from home; so we must make this house a home.
In a letter published in the Times of London in 1998, Peter Smithers, parliamentary private secretary to the minister of state and the secretary of state in the colonial office (1952-59), admitted to the British error of forcibly conscripting different ethnic groups into one crucible of colonial acquisitiveness.
The colonial officer wrote: ''During the negotiations for the independence of Nigeria, the view of the secretary of state at that time, with which I agreed, was that in Nigeria we should attempt to put together a large and powerful state with ample material resources, which would play a leading part in the affairs of the continent and of the world. This was attractive but it involved forcing several different ethnic and cultural groups into a single political structure.
''The negotiations were complex and very difficult, the chief problem as I remember relating, significantly, to the control of the police and the military. In retrospect of 40 years, it is clear that this was a grave mistake which has cost many lives and will probably continue to do so. It would have been better to establish smaller states in a free-trade area. ''
Again, we cannot discount the fact that our union is an emulsive one – like water and oil – but with a disciplined leadership, which we currently lack and seem to always have a short supply of, we can make a congruent substance from this mixture.
Colonialism thrived on a bipod – impunity and corruption. The colonialists made and enforced laws to protect themselves from the natives. Dissent against the colonial administration and the ''Queendom'' was crushed, citizens garrisoned and protests quashed. The system was corrupt. The British expropriated the resources of Nigeria and left little or nothing for the country in terms of revenue. Communities which resisted the trespassers were vanquished and had their wealth plundered. The empire subsisted on the toil and well-being of Nigerians.
But 60 years after the Union Jack was lowered, what has changed? The criminal defamation law which the British used to hound the press and suppress free speech is still much potent in our body of canons today. Agents of the current government and some governors have exploited this colonial relic to clamp down on varying voices.
Omoyele Sowore, activist and convener of RevolutionNow movement, was incarcerated and charged with criminal defamation and terrorism for calling for mass action against a bumbling government. Two journalists — the editor of Big Pen Nigeria, Joe Ogbodu, and a reporter for the National Mirror newspaper, Prince Amour Udemude – were detained and charged with criminal defamation in October 2019 in Delta. Kufre Carter, another journalist, was charged under the colonial gag law in May 2020 by the Akwa Ibom state government.
Currently, there are two bills – hate speech and anti-social media legislation — at the national assembly seeking to regiment citizens and garrison public opinion. People who should naturally be the voice of citizens are pursuing laws to shield themselves from public criticism and scrutiny while federal and state governments are worsening the yoke of their citizens without commensurate performance in governance.
The British looted Nigeria to fatten their country, but Nigerian politicians are looting Nigeria to satiate their greed. The British colonialists did it for country; Nigerian politicians are doing it for their bellies and those of their cronies, family, and hangers-on. While the action of the British usurpers can be argued to be patriotism — love for their country – that of Nigerian politicians is treason — because there is absolutely no justification for robbing your own people.
Impunity and corruption, which reigned under British colonialism, are ensconced solidly in Nigeria's cosmology today, and are even considered as start-up packages for elitism under Nigeria's ''elite colonialism''.
So, what is the difference between the British colonialists and our ''elite colonialists''. I think our own colonialists are a much dangerous breed. They are destroying their own country out of avarice and smuggling the loot back into the country of our ex-overlords. Crazy!
Well, it is 60 years since our independence from the British, and for most Nigerians; it has been 60 years under elite colonial rule. We need independence.
Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist
Twitter:@FredrickNwabufo
Zulum's Convoy Attack Update: 30 Confirmed Dead While Unverified Number Of People Injured
We must do something now, or stay calm, and allow Boko Haram take over Borno – Zulum
Gov. Umahi's aide resigns to save her marriage


29. Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb.
42. The Whiteness of The Whale.
50. Ahab's Boat and Crew. Fedallah.
55. Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales.
56. Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes.
57. Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars.
61. Stubb Kills a Whale.
65. The Whale as a Dish.
73. Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale; and Then Have a Talk Over Him.
74. The Sperm Whale's Head--Contrasted View.
75. The Right Whale's Head--Contrasted View.
77. The Great Heidelburgh Tun.
81. The Pequod Meets The Virgin.
82. The Honour and Glory of Whaling.
91. The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud.
94. A Squeeze of the Hand.
98. Stowing Down and Clearing Up.
102. A Bower in the Arsacides.
103. Measurement of The Whale's Skeleton.
105. Does the Whale's Magnitude Diminish?--Will He Perish?
108. Ahab and the Carpenter.
109. Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin.
110. Queequeg in His Coffin.
115. The Pequod Meets The Bachelor.
120. The Deck Towards the End of the First Night Watch.
122. Midnight Aloft.--Thunder and Lightning.
125. The Log and Line.
128. The Pequod Meets The Rachel.
131. The Pequod Meets The Delight.


text:
Ecar is een voormalige Belgische autofabrikant die uitsluitend elektrische auto's produceerde. Er waren ook lichte elektrische vrachtwagens van het merk verkrijgbaar.

De verschillende modellen waren:
 Cargo 321
 Pick Up 321
 Buggy 312
 Roadster 332
 Urban 334
 Urban 333

In 2021 werd het bedrijf failliet verklaard.

Externe links
  Officiële website Ecar

Elektrische auto
Belgisch automerk
Bedrijf met zetel in Wallonië
Economie in Luik (stad)


In this week's video we look at a couple of tips to build rapport and ultimately trust.
Do you want to be that person who has the ability to consistently put themselves in unfamiliar situations and be able to build rapport with others easily? This is a skill some struggle to master whether it be in the workplace, in meetings or with customers. Learning to do this effectively will see opportunities open up for you.
Building rapport is done through various ways. Sharing stories, experiences, insights and existing networks will develop some common ground. When we establish this connection we start to build trust, exactly what is needed to have someone want to work with you.
be Curious about them. Making everything about you will not give them the feeling you care about them and working with them.
This week take on situations, whether they be meetings with team members, customers or others you don't know, and focus on being Authentic and getting curious about THEM.
Let me know how you get on and whether this helps you win that contract, get that job or sign up a new client !


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Movies Directed By Leonard Nimoy
Updated October 14, 20187 items
List of all movies directed by Leonard Nimoy, listed alphabetically. These popular films directed by Leonard Nimoy include trailers of the movies when available. This collection includes some of the best movies directed by Leonard Nimoy, so use the list to find some movies you haven't already seen. From Leonard Nimoy's studio films to Leonard Nimoy's independent films, this Leonard Nimoy filmography includes movies from all genres.
The list you're viewing is made up of movies like Three Men and a Baby and Funny About Love.
Almost all Leonard Nimoy director credits are included. If you're wondering, "What movies did Leonard Nimoy direct?" or "What is the best Leonard Nimoy movie?" then this list will answer your questions.
Leonard Nimoy has had the pleasure of working with tremendous talent, including Matt Damon and Orson Welles.
Funny About Love
Patrick Ewing, Gene Wilder, Regis Philbin
Directed by: Leonard Nimoy
Funny About Love is a 1990 American romantic comedy film directed by Leonard Nimoy and starring Gene Wilder. With a screenplay by Norman Steinberg and David Frankel, the film is based on the article ...more
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Patricia Arquette, Courtney B. Vance
Holy Matrimony is a 1994 comedy film directed by Leonard Nimoy and starring Patricia Arquette. The film tells the story of a beautiful thief, hiding in a small, isolated religious community, who ...more
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan
Adm. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) has defeated his archenemy but at great cost. His friend Spock has apparently been killed, the USS Enterprise is being scrapped, and starship physician Dr. ...more
#27 of 163
The Best Star Trek Movies
The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Of All Time
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Catherine Hicks
Living in exile on the planet Vulcan, the ragtag former crew of the USS Enterprise steal a starship after receiving a planetary distress call from Earth: a space probe has entered into orbit around ...more
The Greatest Movies To Watch Outside
The Best Movies Directed by the Star
The Good Mother
Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Diane Keaton
The Good Mother is a 1988 American drama film and an adaptation of Sue Miller's novel of the same name. Directed by Leonard Nimoy, the film stars Diane Keaton and Liam Neeson in the leading roles. ...more
Three Men and a Baby
Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, Ted Danson
New York City roommates Peter (Tom Selleck), Michael (Steve Guttenberg) and Jack (Ted Danson) are all successful and happily unmarried, but Peter and Michael get the surprise of a lifetime when a ...more
'Old' Movies Every Young Person Needs To Watch In Their Lifetime
The Greatest Chick Flicks Ever Made
The Funniest '80s Movies


I just wanted to take a chance to combine some of my favorite things: My Sigma Chi Brothers, small business and Ethical companies that work for a cause!
Taaluma Totes was started in a college apartment by two students who set out to connect cultures around the world. We designed the totes with three things in mind 1) We love traveling 2) We want to make a difference, and 3) We like being on the move--ALWAYS with a backpack thrown on our back. We rolled them all together, and out came the Taaluma Tote.
With closets full of fabric and totes on our mind, this quickly replaced our full-time jobs after graduation. We hope you enjoy carrying these totes as much as we've enjoyed creating them. Happy Totin'!
Backpacks paired with different countries. Each backpack is made of fabric from that country, and funds a microloan for a person in that country.
Here at Flex Watches we are dedicated to raising both public and financial support for our partner charities. From local events to nationwide campaigns, and from campus reps to local retailers, Flex Watches joins with these organizations not just to cheer them on and help spread the word, but also donate towards their cause.
For every watch sold Flex provides 5 meals to children in need. By sporting your Flex Watch, you raise awareness for the cause and can change the life of a child. If you'd like to get more involved, Flex can help you adopt a child, plan a misions trip or build a home.
Proving, it is NOT impossible to be an ethical corporation.
Did Burke Outsource Jobs Or Not?
I'm Tanya Bjork and I Approve This Message!
Wisconsin GOP Endorses Mary Burke!
Luke Hilgemann Says "Bring It"
Blurred Lines - "what rhymes with censored"?


Betty A. Williams, 79, passed away on April 21, 2018.
She was a graduate of Howard High School and a member of New St. Mary Primitive Baptist Church.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Curtis and Annie Maxwell; son, Marvin Williams, and great-grandson, JiTerrick Nelson.
She leaves to cherish her memories her children, Andrew, Harold, and Angela Williams, Willie, Sandra and Robert Norris; sister, Peggy Cochran, brothers, Curtis, Donnie and Paul Maxwell; 10 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, and a host of other relatives and dear friends.
The body will lie in state after noon on Friday, April 27, and the family will receive friends from 6-7 p.m. on Friday, at the funeral home.
The funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 28, in the funeral home chapel with Pastor James Jones officiating. Interment will be in Highland Memorial Gardens.


Below is a BBC report of and Israeli "calorie" study drafted in support of Israel blockade policies for Gaza. To Israel's credit, an Israeli human rights group forced the release of this report, but it does nevertheless raise a question: What kind of government would authorize work on such a methodical report on this subject in the first place?
Read the calorie study (Israeli study of Gaza food consumption to support blockade policy) as well BBC report below, and ask yourself how would you behave if someone was even thinking about doing this to you. Would you fight back with any weapons at your disposal or meekly submit?
An Israeli court has forced the release of government research detailing the number of calories Palestinians in Gaza need to consume to avoid malnutrition.
The study was commissioned after Israel tightened its blockade of the territory after Hamas came to power in June 2007.
The Israeli human rights group Gisha, which campaigns against Israel's Gaza blockade, fought a long legal battle to get the Israeli ministry of defence to release this document.
Dated from 2008 and entitled, Food Consumption in the Gaza Strip – The Red Lines, it is a detailed study of how many calories Palestinians needed to eat to avoid malnutrition.
Phi Beta Iota: Good people trapped in bad systems are capable of great evil. This was true of the Nazis, it is now true of the Israeli officials who perpetuate genocide against the Palestinian people with the financial and amoral support of the US Government. Gaza is our mirror – Gaza is the cancer in our body politics — Gaza is our death sentence….suicide by ethical vacuum.


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Q: Remove a type modifier from schema with a migration in Rails Let's pretend that my schema looks like this:
create_table "bunnies", force: true do |t|
  t.datetime "created_at", null: false
end

How do I write a migration that removes the "null: false" constraint on my schema?

A: This should do it
change_column :bunnies, :created_at, :datetime, null: true


What is driving gig economy in India?
Rising internet penetration, a drop in data access costs, a shift to smartphones, growing middle class, urbanisation, demographic shifts, and people making un-conventional lifestyle choices are some of the reasons driving gig economy in India.
Will gig economy stay or stumble in the coming times?
Gig economy is still in its infancy in India. While it will continue to grow, the number of people working within gig economy would still be lesser than the conventional form of employment at any given point of time. India which has largely non-formal jobs – will first see a transition to formal jobs and that shift and growth would be significant as compared to the gig economy. Given the socio-economic context of India; gig may not be the first choice of job for a skilled professional –as people prefer jobs that guarantee steady monthly income and job security.
What challenges could giggers face?
Historically Indians have been used to concept of job for lifetime. Hence some of the challenges that giggers will face is not having permanent jobs, not being able to secure a pay & wage premium in line with their experience and expectation, not having regular monthly income as they may not have project and engagement on an ongoing basis, not having social security and rights of an employee.
How are Tier II and Tier III cities catching up with this trend?
Technology is bridging the gap of physical distance and skilled candidates in Tier II and Tier III will be benefited by this trend.
Will a country like India be able to sustain the culture of gig economy?
India's problem is largely around having formal jobs and also ensuring there are right skilled people available for the jobs that exists today. From a size perspective, gig economy is still in its infancy in India and will continue to evolve with the rise of the digital economy. However, in a country like India it is unlikely that they will become the largest source of employment or job creation in near future. It will have its own impact from a socio-cultural perspective by providing an alternate lifestyle and livelihood option for people who are seeking flexibility, variety, experience and greater work-life balance.
Gig economy v/s regular jobs. What is the present state at different organisations?
In India employees/candidates typically prefer regular jobs over gig – especially at entry-to-mid levels. Experienced and skilled people who are financially secure and/or prefer working independently and are in-need of work life balance are the ones who are showing inclination to join the gig economy. Companies do engage freelancers but in general companies in India has a limited preference – but it may change in the near future given that gigger may prove cost-effective for certain kind of jobs like web-designing, content writing & editing and digital marketing etc.
Which sectors are adopting it quickly and why? Which roles are popular among freelancers?
Are there any policies that safeguard employers and employees in gig economy? What is legal redressal in case of conflict?
Since the relationship will not be of employee and employer hence the gigers will not be able to claim employee rights. Any redressal would be taken care by legal contract (if it exists) between the concerned parties and which can be invoked in case of a conflict.
What happens to employee care aspects like PF, leaves, medical etc?
Since there is no employee employer relations, and most gig engagement would be short-term project based assignment; typically they would not include employee care aspects like PF, leaves, medical etc.
AI is all over! But what about the skill gaps in employees?
8AI is all over! But what about the skill gaps in employees?


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20 Years On, California Supreme Court's Federal Certification Rule a Success
By Ben Feuer
This article originally appeared in The Recorder on September 26, 2018.
In 1998, a fashionably late California joined 44 states in adopting a procedure to allow out-of-state courts to request the state supreme court decide unsettled questions of state law relevant to their ongoing proceedings. Primarily aimed at federal courts, which frequently hear state law claims under their diversity jurisdiction, the rule was controversial and faced stiff resistance at the outset. But now, two decades on, it's turned out a great success.
It was a much longed-for rule. Other states' last-resort tribunals had been taking federal referrals since the 1940s, and the practice became a kind of cause célèbre in the 1970s, with express endorsements from institutions from the American Bar Association to the legal academy to the U.S. Supreme Court. By the 1980 and 90s, the Ninth Circuit began to publicly complain about California's sideline status; while the circuit's other states had referral rules, California makes up nearly half the circuit caseload, so the absence was tangible.
The idea of federal courts referring state law issues to state supreme courts is an artifact of America's unique federalist structure. When federal courts hear diversity cases, the Erie doctrine generally requires them to apply the relevant state's substantive law as they think it would be applied by the state's supreme court. But sometimes, it's far from clear what that substantive law is or how it should be interpreted, meaning federal courts don't always get it right. Not only do they want to get it right, but wrongly decided federal precedent can tie other federal courts down and work injustices even after the state courts have clarified a different rule.
Today, California Rule of Court 8.548 provides a formal request process by which a federal court faced with a decision that hinges on California law can ask the California Supreme Court to decide the issue. It must be one without clear California precedent, and the request must be framed as a question. While the original rule required the request to be stamped with a "certified" seal by the federal court — hence the "certification" moniker applied to the procedure — the rule has since been revised to operate off any order issued by a foreign court.
Concerned with finding its own docket overwhelmed by requests, the Supreme Court put limits on the rule. Unlike most other states, California permits requests to be made by federal courts of appeals but not federal district courts. It also requires at least four justices to vote to take a request from a foreign court.
With an eye to avoiding overstepping its welcome, the Ninth Circuit has also adopted its own limits on when it can certify a question to a state supreme court. In a 2003 opinion, Kremen v. Cohen, the court held that a certified question must be a one of "significant precedential and public policy importance" that is genuinely ambiguous under state law, and the court should not generally use the mechanism to dodge Erie's command to interpret and apply state law itself. A separate opinion by then-Judge Alex Kozinski explained that the overriding principle behind certifying questions to a state court is comity, and given the hard work and time required to decide certified questions, the Ninth Circuit should take care not to waste other courts' indulgence with questions it can figure out on its own.
In the intervening two decades, both sides have largely played ball. The Ninth Circuit has taken care to respect the California Supreme Court's time, and the court hasn't hesitated to rebuff a certified question when it's found the issue already resolved by precedent or insufficiently important. For the most part, the procedure has allowed California the first crack at resolving important ambiguities and uncertainties in its own regulations. After all, a state's authority to interpret its own law is at the core of its sovereignty.
The best evidence of how well the procedure is working is in how much the courts are using it. In the first decade or so after the rule was passed, the Supreme Court took an average of two certification requests from the Ninth Circuit each year. In the second decade, that number has almost doubled to an average of nearly four per year. Thus far in 2018, the court has already granted five requests from the Ninth Circuit, denied two, and at least one is currently pending — with nearly a quarter of the year left.
Litigation Strategy in the Ninth Circuit
For litigants, the courts' embrace of the certification process adds additional strategic considerations. While the Ninth Circuit often decides to refer cases to the California Supreme Court on its own, the parties to an appeal may file a motion asking the court to request the California Supreme Court review certain issues or ask the court to do so in their principal briefs on appeal. If you learn you've drawn a Ninth Circuit panel with a more conservative set of judges but you're hoping for a left-leaning outcome, the California Supreme Court's more progressive composition may mean a better result could come from that court than the federal panel.
Additionally, at least one Ninth Circuit ruling suggests the court will consider referring questions to the California Supreme Court even where federal precedent exists and no intervening state court decisions have called it into question. In 2016's Troester v. Starbucks Corp., the court referred a question to the California Supreme Court even though a previous panel had interpreted the California legal issue a few months earlier. The Troester panel didn't explain its decision, other than to identify the prior ruling as dicta — but the court's precedential application of "well-reasoned dicta" makes that distinction puzzling. In reality, elevation of federalism principles in recent years may better explain why the Ninth Circuit wants to be as sure as possible it's applying California law in the way California would.
But if you want the Ninth Circuit to consider referring your case, you need to ask for that relief reasonably early and in good faith. Courts hate forum shopping, and that's one reason it may be difficult to seek a referral strategically after you know your who's on your panel. Panel composition is usually secret until a week before oral argument, and by then, you've probably missed your shot. Only if the panel seems confused about the state of California law at argument should you consider moving for referral afterward, and you should make it clear that the judges' confusion is what prompted the motion. In a scalding opinion from 2013, Hinojos v. Kohl's Corporation, the court excoriated Kohl's counsel for moving to refer a state law claim to the California Supreme Court only after it became clear at oral argument that the court found California law clear and they were likely to lose.
Litigation Strategy in the California Supreme Court
Getting the Ninth Circuit on board is only half the battle, of course; the Supreme Court has to agree to take the request. Parties and nonparties with an interest in the outcome can file letter briefs within 20 days of a Ninth Circuit referral order that encourages the court to accept or reject the request, or even to rephrase the question to be decided. As with any California Supreme Court decision to grant review, the issue needs to be one of statewide importance or where lower courts have split, and the law must indeed be unclear.
Litigants on both sides are well-advised to seek amicus support for this stage of the process. An upshot is that if the court grants the request, those amici may already be primed to participate in the merits briefing process, which will proceed much as it does with any other case in that court.
Thus, the lesson for counsel with diversity appeals involving California law is to ensure they always evaluate the potential for requesting referral to the California Supreme Court at the outset. Given how well the certification rule has worked in the past two decades — and especially if California law is genuinely ambiguous — the courts may be inclined to seriously consider the request.
On Appeals is a monthly column by the attorneys of the California Appellate Law Group LLP*, an appellate boutique with offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Ben Feuer is the chairman of the firm. He handles civil and business appeals in the federal and state appellate courts. You can email him at ben.feuer@calapplaw.com or find him at www.calapplaw.com.
*In July 2022, the California Appellate Law Group was renamed the Complex Appellate Litigation Group.
This article is copyright © in the year of publication above.
Mind To More Mundane Ethical Rules, Too
By Jennifer Teaford
Confirmation Hearings for Brett Kavanaugh
By Anna-Rose Mathieson


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Governor Ugwuanyi Promises Upward Review Of Allowance For Enugu Corps Members
December 5, 2020 April 24, 2018 by Collins
Great news for Enugu State corp members! Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi AKA Gburugburu has promised an upward review of Enugu State corps members allowance and reiterates commitment to youth empowerment!
He stated that corps members posted to state government's institutions will soon enjoy an upward review of state allowance, as a demonstration of his administration's commitment to their welfare.
He also reiterated the government's commitment to youth empowerment through implementation of policies and programmes aimed at equipping them to optimize their capacity to drive national development.
Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of 2018 Batch A Stream I Corps Members, who were deployed to Enugu State for their national assignment, he congratulated them for the successful completion of their educational pursuits from various institutions of higher learning in the country and beyond.
The governor noted that his administration had recently increased the allowance of corps medical personnel posted to the state to encourage them to serve in rural health centres in line with the government's rural development agenda.
He described the National Youth Service Corps scheme as a unifying programme aimed at fostering national unity and development, adding that its objective was also "to bring together young Nigerians of varying cultural and socio-ethnic backgrounds to promote the integrity of our nation as one united, indivisible entity".
He informed the corp members that the orientation programme was designed to instill in them the leadership qualities of perseverance, endurance, discipline and peaceful co-existence with their fellow compatriots from different socio-cultural and religious background, stressing that "the success of every service year is dependent on the foundation laid during the orientation exercise".
Identifying the empowerment of teeming youths as one of the key elements of his administration's agenda, the governor commended the NYSC management for inserting the skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development (SAED) training into the programme.vHe therefore, advised the corp members to participate in the training and draw the maximum benefit to be self-reliant after the national service.
The governor equally promised that his administration will intervene on some of the challenges and needs of the NYSC state's orientation camp, disclosing that the completion of the female hostel started by the previous administration, the renovation of the abandoned male hostel and the general upgrade of facilities in the camp were captured in the 2018 budget.
While commending the NYSC state coordinator, Alhaji Ahmed Wada Ikaka for the development projects he has carried out since his assumption of office, the governor, who was informed of the problem of power outage in the orientation camp because of lack of distribution transformer directed the Enugu State Rural Electrification Board (REB) to restore supply of electricity to the camp immediately. He also promised to repair the mini-water scheme in the camp to boost water supply, among other interventions for the wellbeing of the corp members and staff of the establishment.
The state government has been resolutely implementing policies aimed at equipping youths to optimize their capacity to drive national development. This informed the recent increment in the allowance of corps medical personnel in order to encourage them to serve in rural health centres where their service is mostly needed.
"The welfare of corp members is given priority by Enugu State government. That is why allowances of corps members are paid when due. Very soon every corp member posted to the state institutions will enjoy an upward review of state allowance", Gov. Ugwuanyi said.
In his address, the NYSC state coordinator, Alhaji Ikaka, who commended the governor for being physically present at the event, also applauded him for his support and assistance to the scheme.
He told the corps members that the orientation camp was "deliberately fashioned to afford you the opportunity to interact with your contemporaries from other cultural, social and economic backgrounds", and urged them to take advantage of the scheme to promote national unity and integration, which he said was the basic goal of the NYSC.
Enugu is truly in the hands pf God and I feel this is a great development and would go a long way in assisting many corp members. I also hope the gesture gets extended to others serving in schools and other places.
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1 thought on "Governor Ugwuanyi Promises Upward Review Of Allowance For Enugu Corps Members"
C'est comme ça qu'elle va faire le buzz.


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Google's Fuchsia could replace Android and unite all devices
The Fuchsia operating system has been in development since at least 2016 but there's still a lot we don't know about it
By Richard Priday
Google / WIRED
While the creator of one of the two most popular mobile operating systems on the market, Google's Android does not play well with its desktop sibling ChromeOS. Compared to the close relationship that can be achieved between iOS and MacOS, or the various versions of Microsoft's Windows 10, Google lags behind its competitors in integrating all of a user's devices together. But Fuchsia, its upcoming operating system that's currently in development, aims to fix this.
There is a lot of uncertainty around Fuchsia, but we know a few things about it. It's rumoured there could be a launch in 2019 at the very earliest. Its user interface comes in two animal-named versions; Capybara for the desktop, and Armadillo for mobile, the OS is built using a brand new kernel called 'Zircon', instead of using Linux like Android does, and it's all designed to be continuously upgraded. At the moment, Android has a fragmentation problem where most users run older versions.
It also contains a feature called 'Ledger' which will synchronise all your devices together, letting you start writing something on one machine and finish it on another. Apps for Fuchsia can be made using Flutter, a Google-made software development kit that is already in use for its existing operating systems.
Developers and intrepid users have been able to look at a basic preview of Fuchsia by downloading the files to Google's Pixelbook, the only device currently supported. However this week, a bare bones demo was released online for people to try via their browser on computers, tablets and mobiles. The demo isn't officially from Google but more of a mock-up of what Fuchsia may be like.
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All you can really do is click around and appreciate the interface and boxes where content will eventually be, but it's still interesting to look at and see how Google's next step in operating systems could be shaping up.
On the test, When you log-in (currently you can only do so as 'Guest'), it's arranged in a vertical rather than horizontal pattern, where scrolling upwards bring you your apps, and downwards a toolbar offering a search box, emails and maps. In the centre is basic information like time, location, battery life, and a central Fuchsia icon which brings up a quick function menu for volume, brightness, networks and so on.
The screenshots and videos that have been released by Google, since we first learned of Fuchsia in 2016, also show there to be a heavy implementation of its Assistant. Some code from Google staffers has indicated that its Alexa competitor will be able to have access to most things running on the OS.
Much of what's suggested to be in Fuchsia is similar to what others already have. Apple's Continuity feature has 'Handoff', which allows certain apps to carry their data automatically between Macs and iPhones, as well as a universal clipboard and messaging/phone integration. Windows 10 and its mobile version also has some functionality like this, able to sync photos, music and other files via an app.
We will have to wait patiently before we get to look at a version of Fuchsia that's near to completion, but for now, it seems like Google is at last dealing with its problems in an area where its rivals are clearly ahead. But then again, as with all developmental projects from the biggest tech firms, the whole thing could come to nothing.
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