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Strand PHIL.I Definitions of Philanthropy
Standard DP 01. Define Philanthropy
Benchmark E.1 Define philanthropy as the giving and sharing of time, talent, or treasure intended for the common good.
Students are introduced to the concept of current events. Current events are placed on a timeline and become a part of their daily routine. This builds a sense of time, chronological order and news events over the course of the school year. Students also become familiar with the purpose of news and the contents of a newspaper in particular looking for articles based on Acts of Philanthropy. Parents are encouraged to share news stories with their children.
The learner will:
- define news and current events.
- illustrate the concept of past, present and future.
- recognize that "news" is a service that helps people understand the world and prepare for the day.
- place events on a timeline.
- create and maintain a current events journal to be used throughout the year.
- observe and create illustrations for events throughout the year.
- Fake microphone (a tube with a ball on top is sufficient)
- Large, white paper and crayons
- Samples of newspapers/newsletters: classroom, school and community news
- Read aloud copy of The Furry News: How to Make a Newspaper (see Bibliographical References)
- Internet access
- Student copies of (Handout One: Current Events Journal)
- Letter to families (Handout Two: Current Events Articles)
- Blank timeline for the classroom wall (large enough for illustrated events to be visible from a distance)
Interactive Parent / Student Homework:Send a letter home asking families to look for kid-friendly current events articles. Encourage families to look particularly for articles about people helping others. See Handout Two: Current Events Articles.
- Leedy, Loreen. The Furry News: How to Make a Newspaper. Holiday House, 1993. ISBN: 0823410269
- Gibbons, Gail. Deadline! From News to Newspaper. HaperCollins, 1987. ISBN: 0690046022
- Time Magazine for Children www.timeforkids.com (for second grade and up)
Day One:Anticipatory Set:Use a fake microphone to make a brief news report of current events in the classroom, school, community and world. Include some events from the recent past, the present and the future (forecasts). Use the rhythm, vocabulary and enunciation of a reporter.
Explain that you were giving a news report of current events. Define the term current events as things presently happening in the community or world. Define news as significant new information shared with others. This news can be about past, present or future events.
Ask the students to recall some of the features of your news report. Write down their observations and guide the discussion with the following questions:
- How was the information I gave you helpful?
- Which of the events I described were from the past, which were in the present, and which were in the future? What do those terms mean?
- What vocabulary made it sound like a news report and not just typical classroom talk?
- Where might you hear (or read) a news report?
- How do we get our classroom and school news?
Discuss the importance of knowing about what is going on in your community (and world). Lead the students to recognize that "news" is a service that helps people understand the world and prepare for the day (or future).
Tell the students that they are going to make a simple news report including an event from the past, an event from the present and an event in the future. These events may be personal or from the classroom, community or world. Pass out paper to students and tell them to fold it into three panels. In the first panel, tell them to illustrate (and label) a significant event from the past. In the second panel they illustrate an event from the present. The third panel is for a future event. (e.g. My aunt flew to Greece last week. The road to school is torn up for construction. Tomorrow the school talent show tryouts will be held.)
Give students time to practice with a partner before they describe their illustrated news report to the whole class. Encourage them to use the vocabulary of a news report. Refer to their observations of your news report.
Day Two:
Visit the Time for Kids Website with the students. Point out the organization of the information: current news is reported in general categories (world, sports, entertainment, etc.) Read an article together and ask the students to verbally recall the important facts (who, what, where, when and why).
Distribute examples of newspapers and newsletters and ask the students to observe the parts of the paper, the organization and the design. Call attention to the purpose of the different parts: to entertain, inform, persuade and communicate about events. Students may volunteer to read the comics and short articles aloud and identify the purpose.
Discuss what information is provided in a newsletter or newspaper and review why that information is important to its readers. What would the world be like without news?
Read aloud Furry News: How to Make a Newspaper by Loreen Leedy. This may inspire the students to make their own classroom newsletter (see Extension). It also will help students understand the parts of the paper.
Day Three:
Read aloud an article from the local newspaper telling about a current event that is meaningful to the students (look for one related to an act of philanthropy). In response, the students summarize the important facts: who, what, where, when and why. You may do this on a piece of chart paper as a whole class or have students record these facts in their current events journal. See Handout One: Current Events Journal. They should also illustrate the main idea from the article.
Draw—or ask one student to draw—a simple illustration of the article (main idea). Place the illustration on a large timeline that will be used throughout the year. The dates of the timeline can go back several months and should go forward to the end of the school year (and beyond). Explain the timeline and show the students where the present day is. Talk about why you placed the article where you did on the timeline.
Tell the students that they will continue to fill up the timeline with illustrations and labels of other events throughout the year. Tell them they may bring in interesting articles of current events at any time. See School/Home Connection for information about getting articles for current events. Make the current events articles (and journal and timeline) part of your weekly routine.
Observe student participation in discussions. Student journals should include a picture of the main idea of the article and list the five Ws. Rubric for student news reports (Day One) has six possible points: Report includes illustrations that clearly show what the event is. The illustrations include labels. There is an illustration of an event from the past. There is an illustration of an event in the present. There is an illustration of an event in the future. The events are significant to others.


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Hyderabad: As the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) is yet to issue safety clearance for the launch of Metro Rail operations on November 28, the state government is working on alternative plans to ensure that the inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes as scheduled, but commercial operations will be delayed by a week.
The Union urban development ministry made it clear that unless the CMRS safety clearance is obtained for the entire 30-km stretch, it will not recommend that the PMO confirm the inauguration by the Prime Minister.
Five intelligence officials from New Delhi, camping in the city for the past four days, are inspecting tracks, pillars, and stations and reporting to the PMO. Their final report will be crucial in determining the PM's itinerary this week.
The alternative plan, according to officials in the municipal department, is for the Prime Minister to inaugurate the Metro Rail at Miyapur station on November 28, and take a ride on the train from Miyapur to SR Nagar (12 km) for which CMRS' safety clearance has been obtained. The 30-km stre-tch will be opened later....

subset: commoncrawl


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Kindle Countdown Deal Results
The Algorithm of Power
May 14-21
Hello everyone,
Here are the results for my book's Kindle Countdown Deal.
The Algorithm of Power isn't the easiest book to promote as it has elements of Political Fiction, Literary Fiction and Dystopian Sci-Fi. The way I see it, it aims for the same readership as George Orwell's 1984. For the 30 days before the KCD started I was selling almost zilch. I was rejected by Robin Reads and Bookbub (though I have been accepted twice in the past, with other books) and here's what I have lined up for the promotion:


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Either for the various space missions of the present or for conquest of inhabiting the most "human-friendly" planet in the future, delivering materials or transporting people to and from space is not an easy job. See the economics behind space supply chain management and the job opportunities that emerge.
Space Logistics
visualized by: nowsourcing.com
RFID Present and Future
visualized by: ThingMagic.com
RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification and is one of the most widely applicable wireless transmission technologies that drives our automated daily life. When combined with WiFi, GPS, 4G Networks, Cloud Computing and other technologies only sky is the limit!


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Spent a bit of last Saturday out at a dog park with some friends as they wanted me to shoot some video of their dog doing "dog stuff" or should I instead say their pug doing "pug stuff." Hopefully this video won't be the black sheep of my YouTube channel, we'll see--it's a bit ridiculous.
On another note, I want to try and move forward with my cosplay project so hopefully there will be some new posts about that coming up in the future.


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If the home team (which bats last) is already ahead in the score, and theoretically would not need its half of the fifth inning, then 4½ innings (i.e., the middle of the fifth) is considered an official game. Then you will need to dig a hole that will be deep enough to position the Goaliath inground basketball hoop securely. While he might not be completely comfortable in sets where the Clippers are running five perimeter players, he's quick enough on his feet that he can't be exploited. A 2 inch wide free throw line is at 15 feet from the plane of the backboard. Your Football cleat is your number one defense against such injuries; a good shoe will protect your feet & prevent injuries while also giving you high-performance features. In nearly all cases, the "official game" status is used to determine whether a rain check will be honored for fans holding tickets. If a game is halted after it becomes official, the game is simply shortened and no rain check is given. To repeat the illustrations given by the court below, a firm of lawyers sending out a member to argue a case, or the Chautauqua lecture bureau sending out lecturers, does not engage in such commerce because the lawyer or lecturer goes to another state.
"I was close many times and unfortunately it was not given to me," Messi added. 5: The Electoral College forces candidates to campaign in a small number of close states while ignoring the rest of the country. The Braves have struggled to close out games, ranking tied for 24th with 12 saves (in 23 chances). City's title hopes might be dashed (along with their other trophy hopes) but missing out on the Champions League would be killer. I know what you're thinking: At the top of the draft, fans are expecting and hoping for an elite, franchise-altering talent to turn around the fortunes of their team, not a player who topped out at 49 points in 82 games. If more than 75% of the race is completed, full points are awarded. Most codes of motorsport declare a race "official" with an official result if just three laps are completed, though only half the normal championship points are awarded if less than 75% of the race distance (rounded up to the nearest whole lap) is completed. They have also lost three stalwarts in Pires, Bergkamp, and Campbell, 먹튀검증업체 (click the up coming web page) and are on the brink of losing England's full back Ashley Cole too, to Chelsea.
The major exception applies in the United States, mainly in NASCAR and INDYCAR, where races must go at the next full lap after halfway. But the fact that, in order to give the exhibitions, the Leagues must induce free persons to cross state lines and must arrange and pay for their doing so is not enough to change the character of the business. The business is giving exhibitions of baseball, which are purely state affairs. The end of the elaborate organizations and sub-organizations that are described in the pleadings and evidence is that these clubs shall play against one another in public exhibitions for money, one or the other club crossing a state line in order to make the meeting possible. It is true that, in order to attain for these exhibitions the great popularity that they have achieved, competitions must be arranged between clubs from different cities and states.
3: The Electoral College is a racist institution that was designed to maximize the voting power of Southern slave states over Northern free states. Games that are stopped due to power outages are treated as suspended and cannot be declared official. In the Major League Baseball postseason and all tiebreaker games that are added to the end of the regular season, this rule does not apply; all games stopped at any time for weather or power outages are considered suspended and continued from the point of stoppage when play resumes, no matter if the game has reached the end of the fifth inning. This rule was put into place as a result of Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, which was the first postseason game in history to be suspended and resumed from the point of suspension. With such an array of sides from across the world taking part in the competition each year, the list of winners sure is diverse. The 2020 situation is slightly unusual in that the swing from Week 1 to Week 4 was just so big, but it's not that much bigger than what we saw last year, which had double-digit swings for both average and BABIP.


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Getting started with a new semester.
As I'm preparing my undergraduate Families and Society course, I'm pulling together some short readings for discussions, including posts from this blog. Here are some you might find helpful for your own teaching, organized according to the chapters of my forthcoming textbook, The Family: Diversity, Inequality and Society Change.
- Why don't parents name their daughters Mary anymore? Sociology helps explain how things that seem intimate, like a baby's name, reflect broader social patterns and trends. In the case of names, individuality is increasingly valued and traditional names suddenly seem boring.
- Good woman child language: Basic concepts of male and female, good and bad, are linguistically related to gender and family relationships. For example, the word for "good" in Chinese is a combination of the words for "woman" and "child," and the word for "man" is made from "field" plus "strength."
- Take my words for it: homogamy and heterogamy: What we call things matters. As marriage people people of the same sex becomes legal in more and more places, does it matter how we refer to different forms of marriage?
- Family diversity in the Later Stone Age: What a 5,000-year-old burial site might tell us about honoring complex families (from my Huffington Post days).
- Who's who in the blended family, circa 1886: The fascination with family intricacy and naming relationships is nothing new.
- Marriage, since when? How you interpret social trends is affected by the starting point on your graph.
- Do Asians in the U.S. have high incomes? It turns out that depends on what you mean by "Asian," and "high income."
- Black is not a color. Black and White are social, not biological, classifications. So why do we treat the words as if they were just colors?
- Marriage and divorce disparities. Race/ethnicity and social class differences in marriage and divorce rates are large and growing.
Social class
- Sociology wedding sleuth. The New York Times wedding announcements presents a case study in elite family marriage pairings. Ah, the mysteries of love.
- Poverty, single mothers and mobility. Family poverty matters more than family structure for children's well-being later in life.
- Three things about poverty and family structure. Trends in poverty, and the observation that only 1/3 of the poor population lives in households headed by single women.
- 12 minutes in segregationland. How much gender division of labor can you spot in 12 minutes at the train station? A statistical photo essay.
- Tangled up in Disney's dimorphism. What does it mean when they exaggerate the differences between men's and women's bodies?
- What if women were in charge? When women get management jobs, some things change. But it hasn't been enough to complete the push toward gender equality.
- Whose right to sex education? We defer parenting to parents at the cost of equality for their children. Example: letting parents keep their kids out of sex education class.
- Abstinence, Antichrist and teen births. Abstinence education not only doesn't work, it might lead to more teen births.
- (Gu)Estimating the size of the LGBT population. How do we know, and what do we know? The latest from large surveys.
Love and romantic relationships
- Is dating still dead? Recording the many obituaries written for dating, back to the 1960s. (Goes with this recent New York Times story on the "end of courtship."
- Online dating: efficiency, inequality and anxiety. How will the rise of online dating affect who ends up with whom?
Cohabitation and marriage
- Your family, immediately. Who says cohabiting couples aren't families? (Or, are you asking for trouble at the border?)
- DOMA can't survive rationality. Why the Defense of Marriage Act, now going before the Supreme Court, is not rational. And as for popular votes on the issue of same-sex marriage, the 2012 elections may have been a tipping point: Have we passed the homogamy tipping point?
- Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood: Time for some results. The Federal government spent hundreds of millions of dollars from the welfare budget trying to promote marriage. It didn't work.
Families and children
- Poverty Poses a Bigger Risk to Pregnancy Than Age. Lots of people are worried about older parents having children. For health risks, though, poverty is a much more pressing problem.
- Play, supervision and pressured parenting. Pressure to be good parents, the obesity epidemic, super-safe new playground equipment: My how things have changed for children's outdoor play.
- Crying out for more babies. The religious right is confused, and concerned, about falling fertility rates around the world.
Divorce and remarriage
- And the 2011 divorce rate is… And how it fits in with the long-term trend, and the recession.
- Distorting data on divorce at the National Marriage Project. Tall tales about divorce, paid for by private right-wing foundations.
- Cohabitation, engaged and not. There has been a long debate about whether cohabiting before marriage affects the likelihood of divorce. New research suggests: it depends on how committed people were when they moved in together.
Work and families
- When there's housework to do… Is "Life to short to clean your own home"? Gender, social class, and the meaning of housecleaning.
- Flattering motherhood, still. During the 2012 campaign, there was a big flap over whether motherhood is "a job." In the end everyone agreed it's super important – as long as it's done for free.
- Getting the story straight on working mothers and children's risks. An overblown story about health risks from mothers' employment creates an opportunity to learn how to interpret social science research (and the news that hypes it).
Violence and abuse
- Has the recession increased family violence? Now it doesn't look like there has been an increase in family violence. Economic hardship could still cause violence, but it's not the only factor.
- Are women becoming the violenter sex? Answer: no (even though they work more and have more money and power than in the old days).
- Stop the "End of Rape" story. Sexual assault rates have fallen in the U.S. But not that much.
Wow, looking back at all these posts, I feel as if I better have written a book by now. Just one more chapter to go! Your feedback is always welcome, whether you are a teacher using these posts in class or just reading.


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May Day!!
Current Location: Highbourne Cay, Exumas, Bahamas
Miles Traveled: 0
Weather: Mostly cloudy, showers, very windy, mid-70s
Highlights: No, not that kind, but "May Day" has a whole different meaning when you're on a boat! Chores day today as we continue to hide from some strong winds. Hooked up the water maker and topped off both tanks (approx 110 gallons) while Amy made rolls and did a load of laundry. Finished off a couple of other small projects, then afternoon reading and nap time. Took the dinghy out after supper to help another boat (Leopard 48) in the anchorage that was dragging their anchor. Not sure how much we were able to help, but at least Terry helped them install an anchor watch app on their iPhone. Rain showers during the night, but no lightning this time.
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February 2022


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Have you ever wished you had a better understanding of how the books of the Bible fit together? Or maybe there is a book that has been particularly puzzling to you. Maybe you have had a question about a particular teaching of Scripture and want to better understand it. Have your questions answered as you go deeper in your understanding of God's Word. Beginning in January 2012, Calvary Bible Church will introduce CBC Biblical Training.
CBC Biblical Training is a series of certificates in biblical studies. The courses are open to anyone who would like to go deeper in their study of the Bible. Each student will be better equipped to study the Scriptures for themselves, and to teach it to others. Foundations in Biblical Studies is our first course of study certificate and it consists of two classes with 10 hours each of instruction.
The first class we will be doing is an overview of the Old Testament. Understanding the Old Testament is a course by Dr. Paul House and is an overview of the content and themes of the Old Testament. Similarly, the second course is Understanding the New Testament and is taught by Dr. Craig Blomberg.
The course requires approximately one (1) hour a week and will last for 11 weeks. No travel or class time is required. You will be able to listen to each lecture at anytime during the scheduled week. After listening to the lecture you will then complete a quiz. Pastor Rodney Pearce, Associate Pastor of Counseling and Discipleship will be co-ordinating and supervising CBC Biblical Training and will moderate the online forum.
Registation is open now! The cost is $40 for the certificate (covers both courses).


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14th April. 2009 - Today we were in for a treat. A parents retreat. Two days of fun... with or without the sun. Indeed, the sun had beat a quick retreat behind thick grey clouds. That, however, would not deter us. T-chan and I were on our romantic 2 day mini-break. Just the two of us. At last! It might, or might not, surprise you to know that this was our first night away from L-kun. Full stop. Of course - as all good parents did we worried about him horribly... for about 5 mins, and then we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.
And how did we do that? Well, we jumped on a bus... a bus bound for Jozankei. Sapporo's other "romantic" getaway. Jozankei is the main onsen area, about 28 km from Sapporo Station by bus... actually, T-chan will most probably berate me here, as in her view Jozankei is still part of Sapporo. For a mere visitor however, it's on the other side of the mountains, and an eternity (and a 2 yo child) away. Autumn is the best season to visit Jozankei... and if you're interested, check out this older post when we were there during the golden leaves season.View Larger Map
We stayed at the Hana Momiji onsen that sits alongside the river Toyohira-gawa, in the heart of the town of Jozankei. This particular onsen has two parts, the Hana-momiji portion is the taller Hotel to the left, whilst the lower (older?) Hotel wing by the riverside is known as Shika no Yu. There are a number of onsen, in the building itself, but within the Hana-momiji section the main onsen is actually on the roof-top. Now... I'm most probably more a "natural" onsen person, but it's quite a bizarre feeling sitting (naked as you do) in a hot bath on top of an 12 storey building overlooking the town and across from the mountains.
|Hana Momiji Onsen From Google StreetView
Actually, there are two onsen at the top floor - one for men and one for women, that alternate in the morning and evening. The onsen in the other wing are located on the 2nd floor, alongside the river itself. In terms of the onsen itself, I'd rate it 3 out of 5... it was a good onsen, but I'm a sucker for lakeside onsen or distant views of the mountain peaks... also, if I'm staying in an onsen hotel I prefer to stay where there's a good variety of different styles of bath. As you can't take cameras into onsen (I certainly would feel uncomfortable if someone else did), you can check them out here to see a sample of the onsen baths themselves.
Of course - on the important issue of the onsen water... I have very little opinion. I'm sure most (though not all) Japanese enjoy onsen - and I'm sure there's just as many opinions about which water is best. Japanese certainly have a greater appreciation for the water: whether it's temperature, smell, texture of skin following a bath, (supposed) curative powers - or just the particular array of minerals that are contained within the waters. For me, it's all about the degree of relaxation...
Our view was a slightly mixed bag. Like many onsen towns, Jozankei had evolved a fairly ugly concrete skeleton amidst the rugged beauty of the mountains. But as May was rapidly approaching, the town also like many parts of Japan, was already decked out in the koinobori (or carp pennants)... we'll see more about them later.
Another hint that the boys festival was approaching was the traditional kabuto, i.e. samurai helmet and armour (the armour part is optional), that was displayed down in the lobby.
Returning to our room, to which we had been initially been guided to by one of the very helpful kimono-clad staff, we were able to relax even further. We had booked a "couples plan" (about 12,000 yen per person from memory...so not cheap), which meant a nice dinner in the room, and a little extra special attention. The room was Japanese style, so that meant that we'd be sleeping on futons... which had to be prepared once the dinner was completed (often done whilst your off enjoying the onsen...). Personally, for me, if you can I'd always recommend a Japanese-style room. It adds that extra special dimension to your stay... after all, you can experience a western-style hotel room anywhere.
After a very relaxing afternoon and evening of onsen fun, we were ready for dinner in our room. It wasn't a huge feast, but we were quite happy with the variety, quantity and quality of the food. First off - there was the wine... a unique (seasonal) cherry-blossom flavoured sparkling wine.... actually this came on top of a bottle of white. Given that T-chan doesn't drink much more than fumes, this presented a different sort of challenge to myself. I mean, we couldn't let it go to waste.
Then came the main meal which consisted of a range of sashimi, tempura, grilled fish (forgotten what sort), salads, beautifully cooked rice (gohan), a type of Cherry-flavoured soft fish cake (kamaboko), and the main attraction, our own personalised shabu shabu dishes (see the white "cloth" dishes sitting over the tea-candle burners... something I've not had before. We also had some savoury jelly, desert (and we hadn't even hit the cake as yet).
We each had our own rice cooker/warmers...though I don't know where they thought we'd fit all of that rice?
Oh - and I forgot the crab miso soup (misoshiru). Yummy.
And I have to tell you... I do have a separate dessert stomach. It doesn't matter how much I eat/drink, I can always find room for desserts... especially mini cheese-cakes and strawberries.
And whilst it's perhaps not advisable to rush down to the onsen immediately after a big meal, we had another special treat to occupy ourselves. We had booked our own private onsen bath for an hour... it's not that easy to enjoy onsen together as a couple as most onsen these days are sex-segregated. But... this is all you're going to see on this blog about the private onsen.
After a huge day of just plain relaxing, in the wee hours of the morning we decided to crack open the cake... ah raburabu keiki (a term of childish doe-eyed love for one-another in Japanglish for love-love). And the evening was yet young (unfortunately, both T-chan and I were not.... alas).
So whilst it was a night of "abandon".... at least in terms of leaving L-kun home with his grand parents, I can honestly say that it was not without some stress (and I'm sure there were moments of stress for T-chan's parents as well). It was a reminder also of our carefree lives, and of those days when we could just go running around the countryside without any commitments... and in those moments there's always a twinge of sadness at something lost. Yet honestly, those moments are quickly filled to over-flowing with the joy of having children. At least until the next time they start crying. ?;-p
I like to believe that whilst L-kun was snug in bed back at obaachan and ojiichan's house, that he benefited almost as much as we did by having re-charged parents coming home the next day. And as for the onsen itself, I'd give the overall experience a 4 out of 5... coz it's nice and close to Sapporo and yet still has the feel of being in the mountains.


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Washington, D.C. – House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) released the following statement on House passage of H.R. 4820, the Combating Terrorist Recruitment Act of 2016:
"Extremist groups like ISIS have been able to grow rapidly due to their ability to radicalize individuals via online propaganda, even here at home. Today, the House acted to counter this trend by passing Representative Chuck Fleischmann's (TN-3) bill which requires the Department of Homeland Security to use the statements of former extremists and defectors as a way to counter radicalization and recruitment. These testimonials will provide the department with effective tools to combat and counter violent extremist messaging efforts and prevent homegrown jihadism. This is the latest step the House has taken to help stop terrorists and terrorist sympathizers. We will continue to move forward not only to make America more secure, but the world as well."


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Wednesday, May 11, 2005
The Age Of The Operating System
(Via Extremetech) A few years ago, the usual mantra for choosing a PC was simple: Users ran applications; most applications ran on Microsoft Windows. But any empire or monopoly eventually becomes a target for competition. While Microsoft may view its raft of up-and-coming competitors as barbarians at the gates,the added competition presages a time when operating systems will be both more and less relevant than ever.With Windows 95 came out, it looked like Microsoft had completely taken over the market. Apple had become a nearly invisible blip on the market and Microsoft's lead in applications volume seemed insurmountable. Microsoft Windows was also referred to as an "essential utility"once. Microsoft still holds the lion's share of the operating system market, but today's technology landscape is more diverse. Holding an operating system monopoly is less relevant than it might have been in the past. Conventional wisdom has always held that the OS with the most applications will attract users. Yet as Linux continues to evolve and Apple becomes the leading OS innovator, a shift appears imminent. A good many home users could happily live with Linux or a Macintosh and never really miss Windows. Microsoft has made valiant efforts to get into embedded products - wiith mixed degrees of success. There are variants of Microsoft's operating systems inside set-top boxes, PDAs, and smart phones. But it is often the minority player in those fiercely competitive market segments. As home devices become more PC-like internally, they now require more care and feeding than similar devices did in the past. Many home device players require updates to their firmware - essentially embedded operating systems. If the tech world were as vertically divided as it was in the minicomputer era, we wouldn't have the rich variety of applications and hardware we do. For this, you can blame (or praise) Microsoft. When the industry started down the path of "IBM-PC" compatibility back in the eighties, Redmond led the charge. Today's world is a natural extension of that trend. So Microsoft is as responsible for the "barbarians at the gates" as anyone else.
|Sadagopan's Weblog on Emerging Technologies, Trends,Thoughts, Ideas & Cyberworld


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Isabelle loves swimming and her swimming lessons so much that she is practically The Newman From Atlantis, minus the webbed feet and hands you understand.
What she has done in her one-to-one lessons in nine weeks is nothing short of amazing (much doffing of swimming cap to her teacher, Nicky) as she is now swimming lengths in the big pool without her armbands. That's right, to paraphrase Westlife, she's swimming without wings.
Now, as mentioned previously, she generally splashes about (faster than lightning) in the diving pool and this was where she could be found this week.
It's been used for practice by some of the celebs in this series of Splash! and last week Sarah and Iz saw Perry from Diversity and some of the rest of the er 'crew' including Ashley Banjo.
This week though, it was the main main himself. No, not Vernon silly, Tom, Tom Daley.
Sarah recounted that when she saw him she blurted out his name in full, one of those things you only seem to do with famous people.
Anyway, Tom, who was fully clothed I hasten to add, was marvelling at how good a swimmer Iz was for someone so young and how cute she looked in her little outfit and goggles.Sarah politely asked for his autograph for Iz (yeah right), ironically I'd have been asking for his boyfriend's autograph with him being a screenwriter and all.
Unsurprisingly Tom was charming, down to earth and just really genuine and even though I wasn't there I just thought it was lovely that he took the time to compliment one of the next gen of swimmers.
He was particularly impressed that she was swimming in such deep water, being the diving pool they'd not closed 'the floor' (it opens Tracy Island style for when people are diving – minus Thunderbird 1 blasting out of it) and it was over five metres in depth.
I'm sure it's a (extend, tuck) drop in the ocean as he must make nice encouraging, positive comments to lots of swimmers but he made a real Splash! with Iz…well, I say that but she was kind of more interested in her post-swim Curly Wurly (sorry Tom), but I know it is something she will cherish in the future and no doubt clock him come Saturday night when he's stood atop his diving board.
And whatever you think of the programme, it and he are certainly inspiring more people to get back in the pool. Perhaps it will only be a matter of time then before someone brings back 'We Are The Champions'. Everybody in the pool!
Thanks Tom.


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1883-84 (retouched 1887); "Bathing at Asničres"; 79 x 118 1/2 in; Signed, bottom left; National Gallery, London
Painted in the same year as Pissarro's The Pork Butcher, Seurat's first large picture shows in contrast the monumental sense of form which complemented the method (still in process of development) of dividing color. This was a move away from Impressionism though there is an Impressionist atmosphere in the landscape background with the river distance, the Courbevoie bridge and the smoking factory chimneys of the industrial Paris suburb of Asničres. In Impressionist fashion also he made a number of small oil sketches from which the final composition was derived. The sketches have the character that belongs to work carried out on the spot.
Asničres was to Seurat and his friend Signac what Argenteuil had been to Monet and Renoir. The Seine and its boats offered a like attraction; the bridge at Courbevoie and the island of the Grande Jatte, seen across the river from the bathing-place on the right, were also to furnish material for magnificent pictures. Une Baignade is a whole collection of Seurat's motifs---and a truly remarkable work for a young man of twenty-four. The kinship with Piero della Francesca that has often been remarked is distinct in the ordered rhythm of design and the firmly simplified contours. The feeling of repose is heightened by the lateral directions of figures, stylized shadows and river bank.
The picture was exhibited at the first Salon des Indépendants in 1884 and in 1886 was one of the `Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris' exhibited by Durand-Ruel at the National Academy of Design in New York. Too original to find immediate favor either in Paris or New York, it received harsh criticism. The critic in an American paper who described Une Baignade as the product of `a vulgar, coarse and commonplace mind' seems with every epithet to present the exact opposite opinion to that with which the work is regarded now.
Planning the composition of Bathing at Asnieres, Seurat made field trips to the island of La Grande Jatte; the approximate site can be checked on any map of the Paris suburbs. But this first of his big canvases was executed in the studio, merely drawing upon the preliminary studies made outdoors.
Coming from Paris,
Beaubourg wrote to Coquiot,
the island was on one's right, more
or less opposite the spot where people swim on Sundays, halfway between the
Bineau bridge and the northern tip of the island, just where the river makes
a sharp bend toward Courbevoie and Asnieres. Seurat was often to be seen
painting there.
Jules Christophe left this short description of Bathing at
Water, air, the railroad bridge in the distance, boats, shimmering
trees, seven men and boys in various stages of undress, either in the water or
sprawled upon the grass. Not many people saw the canvas (at the Salon des
Independants it was relegated to the bar), but it represented a great deal of
According to Signac this large composition, for which Seurat had made
so many preliminary drawings and oil studies, was painted
in broad, smooth
brush strokes placed atop one another, in a palette of ochres and more vivid
colors. Like
he blended his colors in individual areas. Signac
goes on to sum up Seurat's method as follows:
Observance of the laws of
contrast, methodical separation of the elements (light, shadow, local color,
This is a hazy work, saturated with summer heat. In the
distance loom factories and their smokestacks. We feel the oppressiveness of
the atmosphere, the immobility of the scene. The light here weighs more
heavily than the shadows. In an article, Arsene Alexandre refers to the
enormous amount of work that went into this painting:
Bathing at Asnieres
made it clear that Seurat was the one younger artist capable of putting his
back into it-one of the few capable of organizing a vast composition
utilizing hitherto unknown techniques.
The many partial studies that went to produce this work have been brought together into a coherent, unified whole. The summer silence is broken only by the boy who is cupping his hands to make a sound like a boat horn. This is vacation time, rest after toil. The distribution of blacks and whites, light tones and dark, strait and curving lines (the latter predominating) is very elaborate. The light, the sun, the greenery, the buildings, the water, the people, the boats gliding along in the background- everything gives off the torpid heat of a summer afternoon.


text:
All around the country, the plants are in the ground and gardeners are coaxing them to thrive. However, regional climate has a large impact on the success or failure of those efforts. Wherever you're located, our experts have some good advice on how to get the most from your summer garden.
Maritime Canada and New England
June brings warm sun on our backs, the scent of lilacs and a scramble to get summer crops in the ground. We feast on spinach and asparagus and mound hills for squash plants. Pepper, melon and cucumber seedlings can be transplanted into warm soil — if cucumber beetles are an annual problem, protect melon and cucumber seedlings with row covers. Plant beans and corn, and sow additional lettuce and cilantro. Peas are ready for climbing support and carrots need thinning.
Onions start to form bulbs in late June or early July — a good time to top-dress them with compost, organic fertilizer, or fish or blood meal. July promises a full bounty by month's end, starting with the first peas, strawberries and tender, buttery broccoli. Sour cherries and raspberries lead up to the crowning moment of summer: the first tomatoes. Late July is time for planting spinach, brassicas, raab and other greens to ensure a fall harvest.
— Roberta Bailey, FEDCO Seeds, Waterville, Maine
In early June, prepare seed potatoes for a late season crop by letting them sprout in sunlight for two weeks before planting. This process, called "green chitting," will speed growth and increase yields. If Mexican bean beetles have been a problem, consider ordering Pedio wasps (Pediobius foveolatus) and applying these tiny parasitic biocontrols when you first spot beetle larvae.
Mulch warm season crops now, and mow buckwheat cover crops before they set seeds. Sow peanuts, transplant Brussels sprouts, and plant more brassicas and Asian greens under row covers. Add a shade cloth over the row cover if the temperature is very high. 'Nutribud' broccoli is especially nutritious and will produce well in both spring and fall. Two weeks after the tops start to die down, bring in early potatoes, and order seeds for winter cover crops. Plan now to enter some produce in your local county fair this summer.
— Ira Wallace, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Mineral, Va.
Southern Interior
There still is time in June to transplant tomatoes, peppers and eggplant for a late crop. Keep sowing summer vegetables such as okra, beans, cucumbers, watermelon, pumpkins and Southern peas. Faster maturing crops such as beans and summer squash can be planted through July for continuous harvest until frost. Gather herbs early in the morning and before they begin flowering — then hang them to dry, out of direct sunlight. In July, start indoor plantings of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and collards to transplant when the weather cools.
Midsummer is prime time for pulling and hoeing weeds before they have a chance to go to seed; this reduces the number of weeds sprouting next year. Take a break in a lawn chair and sip some iced tea while ordering seeds for the fall garden. I like to have on hand seeds of lettuce, spinach and other greens, ready to sow in late summer.
— Becky Wilder, Seeds for the South, Graniteville, S.C.
Gulf Coast
The garden usually looks great this time of year, but when it is hot and dry, spider mites may get the upper hand, causing leaves to become yellow. High-pressure water sprays will often solve the problem. If not, try wettable sulfur — just be sure not to spray squash, cucumbers or other cucurbits, because the sulfur will burn their leaves. Plant succession crops of heat-tolerant plants such as Southern peas, climbing spinach, okra and yard-long beans; and start cherry tomatoes now for the fall season.
During the heat of summer, nothing beats a drip system on a timer to keep the garden flourishing. Check out inexpensive timers that are easy to program and connect directly to the spigot. In the orchard, don't fall behind on cover sprays. Last season taught me that the plum curculio that loves our peaches, plums and nectarines can attack late in the season as well as early.
— William D. Adams, Burton, Texas
Long summer days bring overnight changes to the garden. We still are seeding, transplanting, mulching and pruning, but also harvesting greens, broccoli and cut flowers. As crops finish, turn over the soil, add some compost and replant for the fall harvest. These months are ideal for planting warm-soil-loving vegetables such as squash, beans, basil and corn.
Carrots can be seeded now without fear of carrot rust fly damage. The key to direct-seeding success is keeping the soil moist while seeds germinate. Covering them with straw, burlap or a thin piece of wood can help. Check the soil each morning; gently water if it appears dry. The cool water also keeps summer heat from affecting the seed. Try growing one or two new plants, perhaps a new flavor of basil or a different kind of flower. Who knows? It could become your new favorite.
— Connie Dam-Byl, William Dam Seeds Ltd., Dundas, Ontario
North Central and Rockies
When the danger of frost is past and the soil is warm, there is a flurry of activity planting corn, beans and squash (and melons where the season is long enough). In cooler areas, preheat the soil for several days with clear plastic for better germination and initial growth. It's time to mulch fruit trees, berry bushes and woody landscape plantings. This is vital in the northern plains, where conditions are especially stressful for these forest natives. Thick organic mulch will conserve water, provide temperature insulation and discourage competing grasses and weeds.
This year, try interplanting a winter green-manure crop of clover between carrot or corn rows. To minimize competition, wait a month or two after the vegetables are established to seed the clover, and watch it take off in cooler weather after crops are harvested. In mid-July, plant kale, beets, fall radishes and brassicas for autumn harvest.
— Bill McDorman, Seeds Trust, High Altitude Gardens, Hailey, Idaho
Pacific Northwest
In June, few gardeners are truly caught up with everything. Warm season crops need planting, lettuce and greens should be thinned and picked, and there is mulching and weeding to do. Don't be discouraged — the secret is just to keep moving ahead. As we shift into July, it's time to think about winter. In most of the Pacific Northwest, mild winters allow us to harvest garden-fresh produce many parts of the country can only yearn for. The key is starting these crops early enough and choosing varieties specifically bred to grow in the fall. Beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, parsnips, peas and Swiss chard are all cold-weather standbys that you can start now.
Basil lovers: Your main crop can be direct-seeded in July. Space the seeds a couple of inches apart, press into soil, keep moist, and they'll sprout in a few days. Soon you'll have a bumper crop with minimal effort.
— Rose Marie Nichols McGee, Nichols Garden Nursery, Albany, Ore., and Josh Kirschenbaum, Territorial Seed Co., Cottage Grove, Ore.
The feast day of San Juan, June 24, is associated with the arrival of Southwest "monsoons." These sudden and heavy rains present opportunities for water catchment. A simple gutter system can collect thousands of gallons of water annually that can be stored in cisterns for use in the garden throughout the year.
As tomatoes, chilies, beans, squash and corn take off, our attention turns to grasshoppers. Consider inviting poultry into your garden to convert these pests into a gourmet treat. Movable poultry coops will keep birds out of freshly seeded areas and focus activities in areas of greatest need. An alternative grasshopper control is Nosema locustae, a commercially available microbial agent in several formulations.
When hardneck garlic plantings produce curly flower stalks, cut them off to promote larger bulb formation. But save the tender stalks — called scapes — and braise with olive oil. This unusual early summer delicacy will become an annual favorite.
— Emily Gatch, Seeds of Change, San Juan Pueblo, N.M.


text:
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Our experts are on hand to help every step of the way. They offer assistance, help with website migrations and ongoing tech support by live chat, phone and ticket.


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What's in the box for the U.S. release of the new Nintendo DSi?
Nintendo's latest portable gaming system, which includes a camera and music functionality as well as the ability to download "DSiWare" applications and games, will hit stores on Sunday, April 5. We've got ours, and here's what you can expect to find inside the box.
The U.S. box is at the top, with the Japanese box below. Note that the U.S. box is much thicker. I wonder why that is. Note also the sticker that offers free DSiWare games just for buying the $170 unit. Nintendo will give every DSi owner who logs into the online DSi Shop 1000 free Nintendo Points, worth $10, to buy apps and games with.
The shop will go live on April 5, so we won't be able to test it out and tell you which games you should spend your 1000 points on until then.
The first thing you see inside the box is, of course, a Quick Start Guide. Because actually reading the instruction manual for anything, these days, is to get off to a very slow start. Hey, speaking of which:
Oh, that's why the box is like an inch thicker: Because the full Operations Manual that comes with this thing is in eleventy million different languages. Okay,* three*. But it's still a whopping 330 pages of text that nobody on Earth is ever going to read.
Underneath the pile of books sits the thing you actually bought, the Nintendo DSi and its assorted accessories.
Hey, there's the trusty AC adapter underneath the cardboard. Yes, it is differently shaped, and larger, than the plug for the DS Lite. No, I don't know why.
The DSi. No, this one is not made out of chocolate.
We took an in-depth look at the Japanese DSi last year, and there's not much more to say about the device until the U.S. DSi Shop channel opens up on April 5. Since there is a different shopping channel for each region, this means I will now have to juggle two DS consoles to play all of my games. What fun!
Photos: Chris Kohler/Wired.com
See Also:- Nintendo Put My Face on a DSi Cake


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Need to get in touch with me? Email me at frugalnovice {at} gmail {dot} com. I'd love to hear from you!
Hi! I'm the blogger & owner of Frugal Novice. I started this blog back in February 2010 and am thrilled to see how it has grown.
I'm married to my high school sweetheart & best friend. We have 3 great kiddos!
So, there you have us. We're homebodies, but love hosting friends and family for dinners, movies or game nights.
When I first started this blog, I planned to chronicle my attempts to live more frugally. I quickly decided it's a lot more fun to write about everything I love, so you'll find a mix of topics here, from food and recipes (I love to cook and bake) to crafts, activities, printables and more. I am PR friendly and have worked with quite a few companies both on my blog and through my social media channels.
Thanks for visiting FrugalNovice! I hope you'll stick around.


text:
Real Estate In River Grove is a strong buyers market. Plenty of homes for sale in River Grove and a lot of opportunity to gargan hard for the buyers. There is a 9.09 months supply of inventory on the market in River Grove on December 31, 1969.
Now is the Time to Buy! The average market time for a Single Family Homes to sell in River Grove last month was 60 days. It took on average 24 days to sell River Grove Condo, Townhouse or a Duplex.
The number of home sales in River Grove from June 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019 was 8 units. That is 1% above the number of homes sold last month in River Grove.
The average price per square foot in the area is now $120/Sq.Ft, which is 29% a decline from last month.
In River Grove there were 1 units sold in June in the price range between $100,000 – $147,469 with an average of 2 bedrooms and 1 bathrooms and average Square footage of 0SF.
In River Grove there were 5 units sold in June in the price range between $147,470 – $233,968 with an average of 2.6 bedrooms and 1.6 bathrooms and average Square footage of 1,114SF.
In River Grove there were 2 units sold in June in the price range between $233,969 – $273,000 with an average of 3.5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and average Square footage of 1,620SF.
The middle price range had the most activity. Homes up to $233,968 were on the market on average 73 days and sold an average of $187,000.
If you are looking for a new home for you and your family, or looking for an investment property, you can't go wrong by getting a prime piece of real estate in River Grove. Search all River Grove homes for Sale on propertyup.com If you are considering viewing River Grove, you may want to do so now!


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Recolonizing Africa Through International Criminal Justice
By Charles Taku*
It is appropriate for me to state right away that Africa is sick; very sick indeed. International crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and lately crimes of aggression abound in Africa and must be investigated and punish. However, as I pointed out elsewhere, international crimes have no ethnicity, race, nationality or religion. That is the reason why the UN Charter prohibits selective and discriminatory policies. Inspired and drawing from the UN Charter, International Law, in particular International Human Rights and International Criminal Law expressly prohibit selective and discriminatory application and enforcement of the Law established by its respective conventions and covenants.
Much as crimes perpetrated in Africa must be vigorously investigated and punished within credible independent, legal frameworks with the territories of the countries in which such crimes have been perpetrated as well as the International legal institutions, including the ICC, the Ad Hoc Tribunals and Courts that the International Community may set up to deal with the situations, where such efforts are perceived to have been carried out through deliberate discriminatory and selective policies over a period as long as a decade, it must be condemned with the same vehemence as we condemned the crimes that are subject of the discriminatory and or selective processes. Doing so is consistent with the intendment of the UN Charter and the Statute of the various Courts and Tribunals set up to trial international Crimes and promote and or protect fundamental human rights of which fundamental fairness is a critical component.
It is within this context that I must emphasize for the purpose of this paper that the preamble of the United Nations (UN) Charter states that the United Nations was created " To save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our life time, has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom".
The human rights basis for the creation of the UN is firmly stated in articles 1 (3), 55 (C) from which all International Human Rights Conventions as well as the Statutes of International Courts and Tribunals derive their legality and legitimacy. It is my considered opinion that the United Nations has failed to reasonably invoke and apply these stated goals in resolving Africa's problems. Where the UN has intervened, it has done so selectively and humiliatingly against the interest of a majority of the people and contrary to the goals and standards set out in its charter, general principles of international law and custom. The exacerbation of bloody armed conflicts on the African continent in 2012, despite what may be construed as largely selective, discriminatory, politically motivated, timid efforts deployed by the UN and the International Community to address the situations supports this harsh judgment.
This assessment finds support from an unusual source. President Paul Biya of Cameroon, one of the longest serving dictators in Africa, whose human rights record and democratic credentials are among the worst in the world, harshly criticized the UN record in the enforcement of its charter mandate, and questioned its relevance in a feisty address to the Diplomatic Corps in Yaounde on January 3, 2013. This charge coming as it were, from one of the promoters of the culture of impunity on the continent and a noted violator of international law ascertained from his refusal to engage in constructive dialogue ordered by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights with representatives of the Southern Cameroons under its auspices since April 2009 to resolve constitutional and other arrangements, carries particular significance. In the pugnacity of his criticism, a careful observer will readily discern that he spoke for the majority on the African continent when he charged that the UN has failed Africa in time of need, critically, within its half decade of cosmetic independence from colonial rule.
Significantly, citing the " high level meeting on the rule of law that was held in New York on the sidelines of the last UN General Assembly, which dwelled on the primacy of international law in conflict resolution as well as the key role of International Court of Justice and the Security Council", President Paul Biya, lamented the fact that " the international situation is marked politically by a number of persisting stalemates and outbreak of open conflicts the laudable efforts of the Secretary-General and the influence of major powers have failed to resolve or appease".
On the Middle East situation between Israel and the Palestinians, Mr Biya accused the major powers of sacrificing the merit of the case for their strategic interests. On the Syrian civil war, he wondered "how many more deaths will it take to move the international community?"
Underscoring with regret that many on the African Continent were sacrificed in their quest for a just transition from "authoritarian regimes to democracy", he cited examples South of the Sahara, namely the cases of Mali, where parts of its national territory is illegally occupied by armed factions, the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC) which has been " temporarily invaded by forces with outside support and is consequently not under the authority of the central power" and the Central Africa Republic which faced the risk of a civil war. According to Mr Paul Biya, this non exhaustive list of unresolved and escalating conflicts underscore the fact that international law is violated with impunity; compelling him to ask the following questions for which I will provide some answers since like many progressive voices on the continent, I had addressed the same issue in the past:
Quote: "Does the United Nations Organization, which is supposed to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Charter, have the means to accomplish its mission, when such provisions are openly transgressed?
– Or is it limited only to making resolutions and recommendations, sending observer missions or peacekeepers, often in insufficient numbers?
Of course, I am aware that the issues I have raised have been discussed in the Security Council where disagreement between the permanent members made it impossible to consider any decisive action.
But such helplessness in the face of acute crisis situations severely affects the image of the United Nations. It only emphasizes the urgent need for reform of the composition and functioning of the Security Council.
If the provisions of the Charter do not necessarily inspire Security Council decisions, and if the relationship of permanent members with international law is based on unequal expression of power, then one cannot help being worried about the future of international democracy". End of quote.
Before venturing to provide answers to the questions, I wish to state that in adopting the position of the majority against which he has fought for most of his 30 years of dictatorial rule, President Paul Biya hoped to hoodwink and manipulate international public opinion and preposition himself as a leader within the emerging pro-people African Revolutionary Movement that has laid down the fundamental basis for the rightful ideological perspective on how to rescue Africa from the current international ideological drift that emerged after the cold war.
I should place on record therefore, that Mr. Paul Biya pays lip service to the values he preached. For example, in February 2008, Mr Paul Biya followed the trend of other dictators in Africa, in particular Francophone Africa in manipulating and changing the constitution of his country, to eternalize power. On his orders, armed soldiers slaughtered more than 148 documented armless citizens who were among the millions who protest the power grab; making him one of the dictators who sacrificed his own people in their quest for a just transition from his "authoritarian regime to democracy".
The group of progressive African leaders he hoped by this speech to find a spot among include champions of the African causes like President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and President Ernest Koroma of Sierra Leone, amongst others. Apart from being the voice of Africa within international circles, their leadership in this evolving political, economic and democratic ideological movement derives from their record in advocating and the promotion of fair and independent international rule of law on the African Continent and their record in the promotion of dialogue, peace and reconciliation at home and abroad. As the struggle for the soul of Africa in 2013 and beyond intensifies, the possibility exists that many more dictators will make frantic attempts, genuine or otherwise, to seek the spot light in this progressive train which is moving Africa away from the neo-colonial bondage that they in their puppetry plunged the troubled continent.
Be this as it may, the questions asked by Mr Biya without providing adequate answers are weighty and I must venture to provide answers where necessary.
Question: Does the United Nations Organization, which is supposed to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Charter, have the means to accomplish its mission, when such provisions are openly transgressed?
Answer: The answer is clearly yes. The UN has the means to accomplish its mission, if I and when doing so will advance the strategic interest of the so-called super powers. In the particular case of Africa, the so-called super powers and their Western allies are aware, and have done all to underscore the fact that the at the creation of the UN in 1946, Africa was not a subject of International Law; for which reason, the provisions of the Charter did not apply to Africa. These Western countries were still enjoying the fruits of the criminal dehumanization of Africa that commenced with the Slave Trade and accentuated at the Berlin Conference in 1884.
This explains why countries like France, a victim of International Crimes permitted by Hitler and the Nazis during the Second World War, joined most Western Countries to perpetrate egregious international crimes against Pro-independence Movements within colonial territories and former German "possessions" from 1948, a complete mockery of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was promulgated to reaffirm the UN Charter protection of " faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom".
President Paul Biya correctly cited cases in Africa where UN resolutions have been violated and impunity continued unsanctioned. Notable in this regard is the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where he stated, parts of its national territory has been "temporarily invaded by forces with outside support and is consequently not under the authority of the central power".
In the case at bar, it may be safe to state that, consistent with the UN and International Human Rights investigative reports more than six million people have been slaughtered or died from the effect of the war in the East of the DRC. The presence in the region prior to and after independence of the super powers during the perpetration of these crimes cannot be reasonably contested. Indeed, the DRC was a major cold war battleground on the African Continent and remains a spoil of war in the hands of colonial and neo-colonial political and economic interests. Rwanda and to a lesser extent Uganda that has supported and sustained the rebellion in the East of Congo have done so first as proxies of foreign economic interests and for the pecuniary benefits of political leaders in both countries.
It is also not reasonably disputed that Rwanda is not endowed with mineral resources. However the Semi Official New Times of Kigali reported that President Kagame in his address to the Nation on the occasion of the New Year revealed without elaborating that
"the mining sector continues to play a big role in growing our economy. This year, revenue from mineral resources totaled close $ 128 million and is expected to rise which will result in more benefits for Rwandans, including additional employment".
The UN had long established that one of the motivations for the involvement of neighboring and foreign countries in the war in the DRC was to illegally exploit its vast mineral resources. The neighboring countries did not seriously contest the findings. Rather they intensified their intervention, and with it the acts of impunity which have presented the UN as powerless to bring these regional leaders to justice.
The ICC which was created by the international community to fight impunity after more than a century of the search for a standing international court has been largely ineffective, preferring to squander scarce resources to go after peripheral individuals in cases that have exposed its irrelevance as an impartial, credible, independent weapon to fight impunity and uphold the rule of law. In its selective politically motivated interventions in situations in Kenya, Libya, Cote D'Ivoire, Sudan and Uganda, it has exposed itself to criticism right or wrong as a neo-colonial tool of regime change, and defense of Western interests, particularly world powers that have not ratified or acceded to the Rome Statute. In Uganda, like in Kenya, it scuttled serious attempts to employ the greatest contribution that Africa has made to International Law, the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and other more viable avenues of conflict resolution in settling the disputes and bringing about justice to victims and reconciliation to the countries concerned.
The rather aggressive and haughty posturing by the erstwhile Prosecutor Moreno Ocampo was widely resented by most African countries, including those like Uganda which made the referral in the first place, and hampered state co-operation without which the ICC cannot effectively execute its mandate. As war ravages in many African countries and precious blood spilled, the ICC is bogged down in the situation in Kenya which its Prosecutor mislead by political interests for the first and only time in the history of the court on his own initiated the legal process.
In ten years of its existence, the trial record of the ICC is disappointing compared to that of the Special Court for Sierra Leone that was created the same year like the ICC. It took the ICC ten years to complete its first case, the Thomas Lebunga Case with a much mitigated result and after being rebuked for using intermediaries to collect evidence and a colossal loss in the second case, that of Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui. In an article titled " Latest ICC judgment reveals an ineffectiveness of Court" posted in Foreign Policy Association Website dated December 18, 2012, Daniel Donavan , harshly criticized the focus by the Prosecutor on periphery characters in African wars, underscoring the finding by the Trial Chamber in the case that the acquittal of Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui did not mean that the crimes were not perpetrated, a veil reference to the fact that the real perpetrators of the crimes alleged were not brought before the Court. Following on this track record, the case of the situation in Kenya may be the greatest embarrassment to the ICC in that the main conduit through which the "secret envelope" and the evidence on the basis of which indictments were brought against six prominent Kenyans, former UN Secretary General Koffi Anan has been reported in the Kenya Press, as providing the political motivations for his role and conduct in the legal process by publicly calling on Kenyans not to vote for those standing trial at the ICC. His failure to cause the UN to promptly take action to abate the Rwandan Genocide that unfolded on his watch and his controversial role in the Kenyan legal process when he was invited as the peace envoy of the African Union (AU) but submitted the information on the basis of which charges were brought to the Prosecutor of the ICC rather than the AU has dented his image before a significant component of African public opinion.
The situation in Cote D'Ivoire and Libya which continue to deteriorate provides justification for the allegation that the ICC may be an instrument for regime Change. It is reasonably doubted if proper investigations were conducted by the ICC Prosecutor in the territory of Cote D'Ivoire against Laurent Gbagbo, his wife Simone and close collaborators during the French and UN led assault on the Presidential Palace leading to his arrest and that of Libya leading to the indictment of Moamar Gaddafi and his close associates that included his son, at the heat of NATO bombardment of Libya and thereafter, his leading assassination.
The UN interventions in these situations and the rather questionable role of the ICC Prosecutor in initiating perceived politically motivated prosecutions that favored partisan and specific interests has crystallized in the fight for the soul of Africa by powerful neo-colonial interests using none states actors so-called "good rebels" and puppets dictators on the one hand and "bad rebels" and revolutionary anti neo-colonial regimes on the other hand.
With this, the Responsibility to Protect Mandate of the UN Security Council in which the UN and Western Governments have co-opted the ICC to provide legal support to its military efforts and mission has strengthened impunity on the continent. The ICC which was created to fight impunity so far has lost its impartiality, independence and legitimacy to carry out its mandate.
There are strong indications, that instead of combating or discouraging impunity, the perceived unfairness of the ICC selective and discriminatory Prosecutions has intensified impunity and lawlessness in the situations in which it has intervened. The referral in the situation on Central Africa Republic made by the current President Bozozie after his rebellion against seized power led to investigations that are ongoing to a Popular Politician/ Militia Leader in neighboring DRC Jean Claude Bemba being indicted. Embolden by his ability to use the ICC process to intimidate politician opponents and strengthen his hold on power, Francois Bozozie ignored the peace process leaving the rebel and his political opponents and those opposed to the selective targeting of opponents through the ICC investigations to intensify the campaign to seize power by the use of armed force. That, in their estimation is the only way to permanently bring political change and insulates themselves from the permanent threat of ICC investigations and possible prosecutions.
In the Congo, the combined effect of the selective prosecutions conducted by the ICTR and the ICC has instead embolden Rwanda to support the rebellion in East DRC and the plethora of rebel organizations in the DRC to see total war and victory as the only means of attaining their divergent but very violent objectives. In Kenya, a relatively stable country in a volatile sub region with weak but performing legal institutions which could be improved with some effort, and which is at war in Somalia on behalf of the International Community the inappropriate disregard for the principle of complementarity and the legally unsubstantiated prosecution of senior politicians on grounds perceived to be political on the personal initiative of the Prosecutor promises to be politically explosive and destabilizing.
In Uganda, where the government made the referral but later ascertained that it could attain the double aims of ending the rebellion with the rebel commanders voluntarily surrounding to a an internal judicial structure provided by the country's constitution, co-operation with the ICC was terminated for insisting of pursuing the matter which led to the peace process crumbling with continuation of the war and the loss of hundreds of thousands of life.
In Cote D'Ivoire like in Libya, the ICC process has become the rallying cry for violent conflict and impunity. Opponents see the process as being abused and used to support and sustain a political system rather than do dispassionate justice as mandated by the Statute of the Court.
The ICC has so far not been able to find a balance between the exercise of its prosecutorial discretion and prerogatives and the deference and respect for other channels of bringing peace and stability to war ravaged African countries where it has intervened. The sensitivity of the Special Court for Sierra Leone to the process and work of the Peace Reconciliation Commission in Sierra Leone helped to bring closure to the rancor that was caused by the war and its brutality. At the end the Special Court and the Peace and Reconciliation Commission complemented each other without compromising the integrity and independence of each other.
It is feared that if the current trend at the ICC continues, it will provide an opportunity for dictatorial regimes of war mongers that the process has served so well in the past decade to persist in abusing the referral process for political purposes. When they feel threatened they will put in place mechanisms whose purport is to shield them from prosecution, a privilege that they have enjoyed thanks to the ICC with the selective and discriminatory prosecutions that has made a mockery of international law. Were that to happen as it may be the case, the ICC will be held tacitly responsible for setting a threshold that has strengthen the tyranny of dictatorial regimes that happen to be neo-colonial puppets of Western geo strategic and economic interests and impunity that can only be ended with the escalation of armed conflicts, and needless loss of lives.
It is hope that in 2013, the new Prosecutor Ms Fatou Bensouda assisted by a very professional Deputy James Steward will work hard in depoliticizing the ICC by distancing the Office of the Prosecutor and its prosecutorial authority from powerful neo-colonial interests whose goals and objectives are at variance with those assigned to the ICC by the Rome Statute. It is then and only then that the fight against impunity on the African continent by the ICC will be real and meaningful.
Question: Is the UN limited only to making resolutions and recommendations, sending observer missions or peacekeepers, often in insufficient numbers?
Answer: Part of the answer to this question is provided by President Biya himself when he stated that he was " aware that the issues he raised have been discussed in the Security Council where disagreement between the permanent members made it impossible to consider any decisive action" and that "such helplessness in the face of acute crisis situations severely affects the image of the United Nations and only emphasizes the urgent need for reform of the composition and functioning of the Security Council".
In respect of Africa, the answer to this question must perforce focus on the fact that Africa is still a victim and not subject of international law. In 1884, the partition of Africa and the egregious international violations that Africa has suffered ever since was considered legal in International Law. In a presentation I made during an International Law Conference in Montreal on September 28, 2012, I underscored the fact that shortly after the Berlin Conference, the First World Peace Conference held in The Hague in 1898 and the Second took place in 1907 but Africa was not even on the agenda. To these powers, Africa and Africans were chattel.
Africans and the world at large need to know the hard facts underlying their place and plight in International law and International Relations. The so-called civilized world is still struggling with how to fully characterize and accommodate Africa in International Law. This is implicit in their relations with Africa and the application of International Law to African Conflicts. This explains the disparity in its intervention between the war in the ex-Yugoslavia as opposed to that in Rwanda, its indifference and then support for the culture of impunity in the DRC, its selective prosecutions in Kenya, Cote D'Ivoire, the Sudan and its failure to consider the introduction of transitional justice in redressing the wars crimes perpetrated in Somalia and bring to an end the impunity that threatens the long and short term, the stability of the entire sub region from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda and the DRC.
Question: If the provisions of the Charter do not necessarily inspire Security Council decisions and if the relationship of permanent members with international law is based on unequal expression of power, then one cannot help being worried about the future of international democracy?
Answer: The exploited, abused and endangered people of Africa who are victims of neo-colonial power play that encourages impunity and adversely affect them ought to be very worried about the future of international democracy. President Biya is right in asserting that the "provisions of the (UN) Charter do not necessarily inspire Security Council decisions and that the relationship of permanent members with international law is based on unequal expression of power". Falling within this category is the controversial invocation of the Responsibility to Protect Mandate to effect regime change in which one dictator is replaced by a group of rebels and criminal gangs further endangering the lives of Africans and compromising their independence, economic wellbeing and future.
Question: What then is the future of "international democracy" under these circumstances?
Answer: The future of "international democracy" is not threatened by this Post -Cold War world so-co economic and political strategic ideology. Rather, the future of Africa is seriously compromised. African and Africans have never been free as such. The ritual that passed for independence from 1960 in most African countries was quickly high jacked by the former colonial powers using neo-colonial puppets who imposed conditions of living and socio -economic and political policies that made the serfdoms unstable, leading to the wars and the selective application of International law that place the sovereignty of African states under the supervision of the erstwhile colonial powers.
The situation that obtained in Ghana aptly painted by CLR James in "Nkrumah and the Ghana Revolution " where many African intellectuals, Lawyers, Professionals, the Merchant Class and Chiefs radically opposed the Independence of Ghana because they benefitted from the colonial system still applies today. Professor George Ayittey in "Africa Unchained" quoting Colonel Yohanna Madaki (rtd) provides an example of the treachery of these opportunistic class of Africans "when General Yakubu Gowan drew up plans to return Nigeria to civil rule in 1970, academicians began to present researched papers pointing to the fact that military rule was better and preferred since civilians had not learnt any lessons sufficient enough to entrust with governance of the country". More recently in Cameroon, University Professors led by the Director of the International Institute of International Relations (IRIC) who was later appointed technical adviser to President Biya, organized conferences to explain to the national and international public opinion that the constitutional clause that imposed term limits to the office of the President was undemocratic and urged President Biya to scrap that provision to enable him contest elections under an election process controlled at all stages of the electoral process by him, thus paving the way for him to eternalized power. Conduct like this, is what breeds conflict in the continent, making it possible for the UN and external forces to set in motion processes and policies which have and continue to enslave and endanger " international democracy" in Africa.
Question: What must therefore be done to protect Africa under these circumstances?
Answer: Africa and Africans must admit that the destiny of Africa lies in the hands of Africans. The foot soldiers and puppets who have ruined Africa and facilitate the exploitation and rape of Africa are Africans. It is the duty of Africans to provide reasonable alternatives to these class of individuals.
We must learn from the experiences of some of the countries that are responsible for the plight of Africa today. Some of them underwent some of the same violations and humiliations at some point in time in their history. The progressive forces in those countries rose and mobilized the people to liberate themselves. It is our turn to do so.
The progressive forces in and out of Africa and friends of Africa must come together, like Marcus Garvey, George Pardmore, Osageyfo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Zik of Africa, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere mobilized the continent and the world to reclaim the continent for Africans and proclaimed the humanity of the black race on the face of the world. The time for the debate on the bigger issues that confront Africa is now. It took a Nelson Mandela and his friends to challenge the conscience of the world on the egregious crimes of apartheid and to prove to the world that black rule in South Africa was inevitable. It took the vision and courage of a Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere to support and sustain the liberation struggle in Southern Africa that led to the victory of freedom over colonial rule in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa itself.
Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere himself stated as early as 1964 in an address to delegates to the KANU conference in Dar Es Salaam that for us to confront the challenges of the present and the future, we must challenge the past and critically examine where we went wrong and what we can do to right the wrongs and move on in the right direction. I suggest that progressive forces in Africa and the black race can make that critical examination of what is wrong with Africa and come up with solutions that will impose respect, compliance and execution by the rest of the world. The time to mobilize progressive forces the world over for a Pan Africa Progressive World Forum that will critically examine what is wrong with Africa and chat the course for Africa and all black peoples the world over for future is now.
Then and only then will our so-called independence have meaning and the black race assured of its existence in the world.
*Chief Charles A.Taku is Lead Counsel at the UNCITR, Special Court for Sierra Leone, The ICC. He is Author of a new hot selling book: Contextual Foundations of International Criminal Jurisprudence: Selected Cases, available at www.takujurisprudence.com, www.amazon.com, www.barnes and noble.com


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