Army braking the maternity law-Hutchinson’s superiors told her she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care
November 17, 2009
Soldier mom refuses deployment to care for baby
AP – This undated self-portrait provided by Army Spc. Alexis Hutchinson shows Spc. Hutchinson and her son, … 
Play Video 
Play Video SAVANNAH, Ga. – An Army cook and single mom may face criminal charges after she skipped her deployment flight to Afghanistan because, she said, no one was available to care for her infant son while she was overseas.
Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, claims she had no choice but to refuse deployment orders because the only family she had to care for her 10-month-old son — her mother — was overwhelmed by the task, already caring for three other relatives with health problems.
Her civilian attorney, Rai Sue Sussman, said Monday that one of Hutchinson’s superiors told her she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care.
“For her it was like, ‘I couldn’t abandon my child,’” Sussman said. “She was really afraid of what would happen, that if she showed up they would send her to Afghanistan anyway and put her son with child protective services.”
Hutchinson, who is from Oakland, Calif., remained confined Monday to the boundaries of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, 10 days after military police arrested her for skipping her unit’s flight. No charges have been filed, but a spokesman for the Army post said commanders were investigating.
Kevin Larson, a spokesman for Hunter Army Airfield, said he didn’t know what Hutchinson was told by her commanders, but he said the Army would not deploy a single parent who had nobody to care for his or her child.
“I don’t know what transpired and the investigation will get to the bottom of it,” Larson said. “If she would have come to the deployment terminal with her child, there’s no question she would not have been deployed.”
Hutchinson’s son, Kamani, was placed into custody overnight with a daycare provider on the Army post after she was arrested and jailed briefly, Larson said. Hutchinson’s mother picked up the child a week ago and took him back to her home in California.
Hutchinson, who’s assigned to the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, joined the Army in 2007 and had no previous deployments, Sussman said. She said Hutchinson is no longer in a relationship with the father.
The Army requires all single-parent soldiers to submit a care plan for dependent children before they can deploy to a combat zone.
Hutchinson had such a plan — her mother, Angelique Hughes, had agreed to care for the boy. Hughes said Monday she kept the boy for about two weeks in October before deciding she couldn’t keep him for a full year.
Hughes said she’s already having to care for her ailing mother and sister, as well as a daughter with special needs. She also runs a daycare center at her home, keeping about 14 children during the day.
“This is an infant, and they require 24-hour care,” Hughes said. “It was very, very stressful, just too much for me to deal with.”
Hughes said she returned Kamani to his mother in Georgia a few days before her scheduled deployment Nov. 5.
She said they told her daughter’s commanders they needed more time to find another family member or close friend to help Hughes care for the boy, but Hutchinson was ordered to deploy on schedule.
Larson, the Army post spokesman, said officials planned to keep Hutchinson in Georgia as investigators gathered facts about the case.
“Spc. Hutchinson’s deployment is halted,” Larson said. “There will be no deployment while this situation is ongoing.”
___
Russ Bynum has covered the military based in Georgia since 2001.
yahoo news
Modern Homo sapiens is still evolving
October 26, 2009
Human Evolution: Are Humans Still Evolving?
Modern Homo sapiens is still evolving. Despite the long-held view that natural selection has ceased to affect humans because almost everybody now lives long enough to have children, a new study of a contemporary Massachusetts population offers evidence of evolution still in action.
A team of scientists led by Yale University evolutionary biologist Stephen Stearns suggests that if the natural selection of fitter traits is no longer driven by survival, perhaps it owes to differences in women’s fertility. “Variations in reproductive success still exist among humans, and therefore some traits related to fertility continue to be shaped by natural selection,” Stearns says. That is, women who have more children are more likely to pass on certain traits to their progeny. (See the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2008.)
Stearns’ team examined the vital statistics of 2,238 postmenopausal women participating in the Framingham Heart Study, which has tracked the medical histories of some 14,000 residents of Framingham, Mass., since 1948. Investigators searched for correlations between women’s physical characteristics – including height, weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels – and the number of offspring they produced. According to their findings, it was stout, slightly plump (but not obese) women who tended to have more children – “Women with very low body fat don’t ovulate,” Stearns explains – as did women with lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Using a sophisticated statistical analysis that controlled for any social or cultural factors that could impact childbearing, researchers determined that these characteristics were passed on genetically from mothers to daughters and granddaughters.
If these trends were to continue with no cultural changes in the town for the next 10 generations, by 2409 the average Framingham woman would be 2 cm (0.8 in) shorter, 1 kg (2.2 lb.) heavier, have a healthier heart, have her first child five months earlier and enter menopause 10 months later than a woman today, the study found. “That rate of evolution is slow but pretty similar to what we see in other plants and animals. Humans don’t seem to be any exception,” Stearns says. (See TIME’s photo-essay “Happy 200th Darwin Day.”)
Douglas Ewbank, a demographer at the University of Pennsylvania who undertook the statistical analysis for the study, which was published Oct. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), says that because cultural factors tend to have a much more prominent impact than natural selection in the shaping of future generations, people tend to write off the effect of evolution. “Those changes we predict for 2409 could be wiped out by something as simple as a new school-lunch program. But whatever happens, it’s likely that in 2409, Framingham women will be 2 cm shorter and 1 kg heavier than they would have been without natural selection. Evolution is a very slow process. We don’t see it if we look at our grandparents, but it’s there.”
Other recent genetic research has backed up that notion. One study, published in PNAS in 2007 and led by John Hawks, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, found that some 1,800 human gene variations had become widespread in recent generations because of their modern-day evolutionary benefits. Among those genetic changes, discovered by examining more than 3 million DNA variants in 269 individuals: mutations that allow people to digest milk or resist malaria and others that govern brain development. (Watch TIME’s video “Darwin and Lincoln: Birthdays and Evolution.”)
But not all evolutionary changes make inherent sense. Since the Industrial Revolution, modern humans have grown taller and stronger, so it’s easy to assume that evolution is making humans fitter. But according to anthropologist Peter McAllister, author of Manthropology: the Science of Inadequate Modern Man, the contemporary male has evolved, at least physically, into “the sorriest cohort of masculine Homo sapiens to ever walk the planet.” Thanks to genetic differences, an average Neanderthal woman, McAllister notes, could have whupped Arnold Schwarzenegger at his muscular peak in an arm-wrestling match. And prehistoric Australian Aborigines, who typically built up great strength in their joints and muscles through childhood and adolescence, could have easily beat Usain Bolt in a 100-m dash.
Steve Jones, an evolutionary biologist at University College London who has previously held that human evolution was nearing its end, says the Framingham study is indeed an important example of how natural selection still operates through inherited differences in reproductive ability. But Jones argues that variation in female fertility – as measured in the Framingham study – is a much less important factor in human evolution than differences in male fertility. Sperm hold a much higher chance of carrying an error or mutation than an egg, especially among older men. “While it used to be that men had many children in older age to many different women, now men tend to have only a few children at a younger age with one wife. The drop in the number of older fathers has had a major effect on the rate of mutation and has at least reduced the amount of new diversity – the raw material of evolution. Darwin’s machine has not stopped, but it surely has slowed greatly,” Jones says. (See TIME’s special report on the environment.)
Despite evidence that human evolution still functions, biologists concede that it’s anyone’s guess where it will take us from here. Artificial selection in the form of genetic medicine could push natural selection into obsolescence, but a lethal pandemic or other cataclysm could suddenly make natural selection central to the future of the species. Whatever happens, Jones says, it is worth remembering that Darwin’s beautiful theory has suffered a long history of abuse. The bastard science of eugenics, he says, will haunt humanity as long as people are tempted to confuse evolution with improvement. “Uniquely in the living world, what makes humans what we are is in our minds, in our society, and not in our evolution,” he says.
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Are the rich morally obliged to share their wealth?
October 26, 2009
This is the story on bbcnews.com. ‘A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes. The group say they have more money than they need, and the extra revenue could fund economic and social programmes to aid Germany’s economic recovery.’ Would you like a tax hike for the rich in your country?
Do you agree with their sentiments? If you’re one of your country’s higher earners, do you want your government to take more money from you? And if you’re in a lower wage bracket, should the rich in your country be giving more to help you to get through the economic downturn?
Responses:
1.Wow. The rich already pay the vast majority of taxes. In the US, the top 1% of income earners pay well over 60% of all the income taxes. They should pay even more? A lot of people pay absolutely no income tax, and still receive benefits.
If it becomes an obligation for wealthy (relative term, I’m by no means wealthy, yet I pay well over 25% on my income in federal income taxes alone, not including state, social security, medicare, etc), should the wealthy get something in return, like perhaps 2 votes? Why should the wealthy have to support everyone else’s lifestyles, yet only get the same one vote? That means that the wealthy have even less rights, if they have to pay for everyone else, yet get only the same benefits, are they not discriminated against?
It’s like saying there are 2 people, X and Y. Y doesn’t make much money, cannot really support himself, and X makes good money, can support himself, so X is taxed to provide aid to Y, so Y gets his food and housing paid for, whereas X has to pay for that himself. Both only get one vote, both have all other the same “rights” and “privileges” but X has to pay a lot more in taxes, and doesn’t get the benefits that Y does. Why should X be compensated in some other way if society is going to rely on him to support everyone else?
2.Steve, not true. the majority of taxes come from people who make less than $1M. The rates are much lower for people who earn dividends and capital gains, than for wage earners. Only 40% of taxpayers pay anything in the US, and they pay the bulk of the taxes. People at the bottom all pay their 12.5% FICA off the top for their own social security no matter what they earn. And the majority of our Fed Budget is just that, social security.
Exxon Mobile and all the other oil companies pays so little in Fed tax, yet the US military provides security services for them for free, all over the world in the “troublespots” they themselves make!
These figures are out there. Warren Buffet himself says he pays less % wise than his secretary. We need the facts here not myths! The Myths only serve 1% of the population, meanwhile the states are failing, universities are closing down, and more and more people are living desperate lives. Not necessary!
Conclusion:
Don’t confuse social security with taxes. It’s a whole seperate thing.
bbc.radio service
Global warming vs. unemployment
October 16, 2009
Congress is gearing up for another run at a cap-and-trade law and opponents say it will cost too many jobs. Are they right?
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Get ready for fireworks. As congressional Democrats begin drafting another bill regulating greenhouse gases, opponents are already saying it would cost millions of jobs amid the worst recession in decades.
To be sure, estimates on how many jobs may be lost and when those loses would come vary widely depending on who’s counting.
The most middle-of-the-road analysis seems to come from the government’s Energy Information Administration. EIA said last year’s failed Lieberman-Warner greenhouse gas bill would result in about 100,000 fewer jobs per year.
But the EIA’s estimate is taking fire from all sides. Opponents of the bill say is far too low, while supporters say is far too high.
//
World food day, feed a child
October 16, 2009
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Dear Alice,
Because of World Food Day, many children may be rescued from hunger for one more day. But you can help celebrate World Food Day, today and forever: Real Stories of World Hunger
Bangladesh: Shefali Dash is a hawker and a mother of four. She receives crucial financial support and counseling for her family from SOS Social Center Rajshahi, but still struggles to afford nutritious foods due to local price hikes: “My only source of nutrition is potatoes and a few green vegetables. Nothing else. Price hikes have meant that, to eat nutritious food, we need even more money today.” Ghana: Ms. Johnson is a widow, mother of five children, and a beneficiary of SOS family strengthening programs. However, with the widespread rise of food prices, the monthly food package usually offered to the Johnson family was reduced. Ms. Johnson has to struggle every day to feed herself and her five children. She told us how she attempts to defy the rising food prices: “Items such as cheese, milk, butter, chocolate and eggs have disappeared from our table because of their prices. We subsist on yams, plantain, cassava, maize, beans and vegetables and even those prices have increased so much.”
Every meal helps
Worse, orphaned and abandoned children — who may have lost their families to AIDS, poverty, or natural disasters — exist on the periphery of society where their need is often invisible, even to aid workers. In these difficult times, not everyone can afford to help as much as we might want to. But every donation does help. For as little as $30, you can help feed one little boy or girl for 2 weeks. For a one-time donation of $150, you can help an entire SOS family celebrate World Food Day all month long. Please, help SOS Children’s Villages feed a child on World Food Day. I thank you for helping children and their families grow stronger,
Heather Paul, PhD |
Mixed Blessings
September 11, 2009
Golfer Tiger Woods holds his newborn daughter Sam Alexis Woods as wife Elin kisses the baby. Woods has famously refered to his mixed-race identity as ‘Cablinasian,’ a word he derived from Caucasian, black, American-Indian and Asian. (WireImage, Gretchen Dow Mashkuri/Associated Press)
By Lisa Khoo, CBC Radio’s The Current
“Mixed Blessings” is a four-part series on CBC Radio’s The Current that looks at the growing number of people of mixed race, and what it means to identity, arts, culture and public policy.
The series will air the week of Sept. 10, on The Current at 8:30 a.m. (9:00 in Newfoundland) on CBC Radio One and online at cbc.ca/radio.
Listen to the episodes:
Sept. 10 (Runs 23:25)
Sept. 11 (Runs 22:36)
Sept. 12 (Runs 21:20)
Sept. 13 (Runs 22:36)Some of the items have been edited because of online rights issues.
Download episodes from The Current podcast:
Sept. 10 (Runs 23:02)
Sept. 11 (Runs 22:44)
Sept. 12 (Runs 19:50)
Sept. 13 (Runs 23:04)
Think Tiger Woods, Vin Diesel, Keanu Reeves, Mariah Carey, Sean Lennon — more and more mixed-race people are turning up in the media and in Canadian society.
In the past decade Canada’s demographics have changed radically, as more immigrants from visible minorities settle here, and the number of mixed-race marriages has gone up, leading to more mixed-race children.
Today, mixed-race people are perceived as ethnically ambiguous, even exotic, and are being touted as a marketer’s dream. Mixed-race people are starting Facebook clubs, activist groups, writing books, plays, poetry. They’re doing visual art, documentaries, even standup comedy routines. In addition to exploring their own identities, they’re challenging our notions of race, ethnicity and national identity. That has implications for public policy as well as society as a whole.
“We’re going to have to rethink what it means to be a Canadian,” says documentary maker Anne Marie Nakagawa, who is of Japanese and Irish-Scottish descent (photo). “I think in 20 years we won’t be thinking the person in the ‘I Am Canadian’ beer commercial is necessarily someone of European descent. At least I hope not.”
Identity questions
Lisa Khoo, senior producer, The Current
My ancestry is Chinese, Malay, English, and Scottish. My mother has blue eyes and blond hair, and my father had black hair and dark brown eyes (photo). I have light hair and hazel eyes. I don’t look British, but I don’t look Chinese either. What am I? Mixed-race people get asked that question a lot.
“If it’s the first question out of someone’s mouth when they first meet me, it’s a bit frustrating,” said Karen Suzuki, a Toronto filmmaker of Japanese-Canadian and German descent.
Suzuki’s ancestors on both sides have been in Canada for four generations (photo).
“Why do we look at someone’s face and immediately need to know where they come from, how they got to look that way? It almost feels as rude as asking someone, ‘How much do you weigh?’ It’s as if they look at you and want to know the number, the mass … I’m so much more than that. It’s a much longer answer than white, black, Asian,” Suzuki said.
Author Lawrence Hill, whose father was black and mother was white, wrote about how he deals with the question in his best-selling memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada, published in 2001. He wrote:
What is wrong with The Question? Nothing at all — when it is asked at the right time, when it results in a genuine interest in you as a person, and when the person asking the question actually accepts the answer. Let’s dissect the interrogation process. Imagine me at a party, sipping mineral water. A stranger walks up.
STRANGER: “Do you mind me asking where you’re from?” [This is code for "What is your race?"]
ME: “Canada.” [This is code for "screw off."]
STRANGER: “Yes, but you know, where are you really from?” [This is code for "You know what I mean, so why are you trying to make me come out and say it?"]
ME: “I come from the foreign and distant metropolis of Newmarket. That’s Newmarket, Ont., my place of birth.” [Code for "I'm not letting you off the hook, buster."]
STRANGER: “But your place of origin? Your parents? What are your parents?” [Code for, "I want to know your race but this is making me feel very uncomfortable because somehow I'm not supposed to ask that question."]
Concludes Hill: “I suppose the reason many of us mixed-race people find The Question offensive is not just that it makes assumptions, which are often false, about our identity, but because it attempts to hang our identity on one factor: our race.”
Fluid identities
Many mixed-race people describe themselves as having fluid identities, perhaps as a result of constant negotiations between multiple ethnicities, traditions and communities.
Paul Bramadat, who is of Indo-Trinidadian-Scottish-Irish descent (photo), says he’s learned to turn the ambiguity into an advantage in his adult years. But during his adolescence, it was an isolating experience being in between.
“When you are trying to become a person, going through adolescence, struggling with who you are at best of times … this other complication, along with hormones, school, drugs alcohol … adds another wrinkle. At the time it was very challenging, disorienting and alienating,” Bramadat said.
Now, he says, it has helped him, especially in his career as a professor at the University of Winnipeg where he teaches about multiculturalism and tolerance.
“More than ever I am coming to appreciate the ambiguity, the looseness. I think it’s actually been very helpful for me. It’s made me more open about learning things, about other cultures, other religious groups, that I think is reflected in my research,” said Bramadat.
By the numbers
The number of Canadians identifying themselves as belonging to more than one group, including white, Chinese, South Asian, was 328,115 in the 2001 census. Executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies Jack Jedwab says that number may double by 2027.
“I think we can expect as much as a doubling of people of mixed ethnic and racial background in the next 15 to 20 years simply by virtue of the increased social acceptance of such mixing … People of different backgrounds are far more in contact today than they were, say, 20 or 30 years ago,” he said.
The number of mixed marriages in Canada rose by 35 per cent between the 1996 and 2001 census to 452,000. The visible minority population in Canada grew threefold between 1981 and 2001 after Canada’s immigration policy changed with the introduction of the Immigration Act in 1976. It set up a point system to determine entry into Canada.
Between 1956 and 1976, 63.6 per cent of immigrants came to Canada from Europe and the U.K., while 11.9 per cent came from Asia. By 2004, 48.6 per cent of immigrants came from Asia, 19.7 per cent came from Africa and the Middle East, and 17.8 per cent came from Europe and the U.K.
A look at history
Mixed-race people have a long history in North America, starting with the Métis, the product of unions between French traders and native women as far back as the 1700s. They developed their own language and customs and today are legally recognized along with the Inuit and First Nations. But their status did not come without a struggle, similar to what other mixed-race people are experiencing today.
“The idea that society doesn’t know how to deal with the mixing of cultures is a very key part of how we are all treated,” says lawyer Jean Teillet, whose great-grandfather was Métis leader Louis Riel, and whose mother is of Polish ancestry.
“I think circumstances of the collective Métis Nation and individuals of mixed race are probably a difference of scale but not in nature. The individual in each group will have the same situations,” Teillet said, “Who are you, what are you, why aren’t you just a Canadian, what’s your background, what do you identify as? Those things are all things Métis people experience every day as well.”
A new name
Some European-Asian people are adopting a new name to describe themselves — Hapa. The term itself is not new. It is from Hawaii, a state where most people have mixed backgrounds and embrace their fused heritage. Hapa means half, and is sometimes used as a short form for “hapa haole,” which means half-Caucasian.
Kip Fulbeck
Prof. Kip Fulbeck, who teaches at the University of California at Santa Barbara, is one of the leading voices using the term. His father is Caucasian and his mother is Chinese (photo). He became aware of “Hapa” while living in Hawaii.
“I use it because there was simply no better way to describe myself. My whole life it’s either been a clinical scientific terminology “Amerasian” or “Eurasian,” words which are really biological. I didn’t like that. Hapa felt more home-style, more downtown.”
Last year, Fulbeck published a book called Part Asian, 100% Hapa (photo), featuring hundreds of photos he took of mixed-race people. Each picture is accompanied by a statement by the individual, identifying themselves. At the shoots, said Fulbeck, the air was electric, as people saw others who looked like them, a point of connection many had not felt growing up.
“To me it was always a struggle to fit in. I was always identified as ‘other.’ Every school form or job application asked me to check one box on these stupid ethnicity questionnaires. For me that was asking me to pick Mom or Dad and I didn’t want to do that. I realized identity is a personal thing. I decided I was Hapa — mixed-blood or mixed-race — and if people wanted to talk about it, I was fine talking about it,” said Fulbeck.
Jeff Chiba Stearns is a Canadian animator who also uses the term (photo). He grew up in Kelowna, B.C., with a Japanese-Canadian mother and Caucasian father. Stearns describes his signature style of work as “Hapanimation,” fusing elements of Japanese anime with traditional animation.
His film What are you anyway? is a funny, poignant story of how he came to embrace his heritage, and he’s currently producing a documentary on his family called One Big Hapa Family. He embraces the term, with mixed feelings.
“Using the word Hapa allowed us to escape from other people’s definitions. But has it become a box? It’s good for a sense of community but is that in danger of becoming too limited? It should be fluid.”
Picking a side
Some people of mixed race have chosen to identify more fully with one of their heritages. While individuals vary within every community, some mixed African-Canadians identify more strongly with black culture. In the U.S., people were identified as black by law if they had any black ancestry whatsoever, the so-called “one-drop” rule.
People with one black parent and one white parent identifying themselves as black is, said author Lawrence Hill, “a historical trend that has marked the experiences of blacks in North America since we’ve been brought here 400 years ago. But it’s also an internalized response. Many black people tend to feel this way, and embrace this aspect of their identity very proudly, regardless of the levels of their mixture in their family.”
In the U.S., many African-Americans were opposed to changes to the 2000 census which allowed people to pick several ethnic backgrounds, out of concern that it would reduce their numbers.
There are also mixed-race people who have little or no attachment to their ancestry. Anne Marie Nakagawa studied in Japan for two years but didn’t identify with the culture or society at all.
“I’ve discovered that being Japanese, whatever that is, is against my nature. Many things that are Japanese are counter to my intuition so I couldn’t call myself a Japanese person,” she said.
Many Japanese-Canadians have been in Canada for several generations and feel few ties to Japan. Having endured internment during the Second World War, the vast majority intermarried with people of European descent. Now, 95 per cent of Japanese-Canadians are in mixed marriages.
Debunking ‘race’
The idea that the world can be divided into a handful of separate races has been debunked by biology, even as the term continues to be used by social scientists. The idea of races gained traction in the 19th century when scientists, including Linneus, were applying classifications to all animals and plants. There were four, then later five, races: red, yellow, black, brown and white.
Today geneticists know that, in reality, humans share approximately 75 per cent of the same genes, and the genes for skin colour and hair type are just a fraction of those. While people do look different around the world, those differences unfold gradually and have more to do with adapting to local geography over time.
“Today we recognize quite strongly that race per se is not a natural biological fact about human variation,” explains leading anthropologist Jonathan Marks. “It’s composed of a negotiation between what we might call natural facts of difference and cultural facts of otherness.
“It’s not that people don’t differ from one another — obviously everybody differs from everybody else except identical twins genetically — but we perceive some differences as significant and other differences as insignificant. And that’s at the heart of the problem of race, that what we decided that the difference between these two people is not very important and the difference between those two people is very important and that’s a very subjective cultural assessment.”
Even though science may not focus on skin colour, we live in a very visual world, and racism still exists, whether it’s based on outdated notions or not. Some sociologists say the idea of race as a social construct is still useful, particularly in fighting racism.
The implications
Some people suggest that, as we move into a time when ethnic and racial lines are being blurred, Canada needs to update its multicultural policy. Born out of the 1969 Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, the policy was announced in 1971. It was designed to help cultural groups foster their identity while being able to fully participate in Canadian society. That later led to a Multiculturalism Act in 1988. Multiculturalism is also legally enshrined in Section 27 of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which says laws will be interpreted to preserve and enhance the multicultural heritage of Canada.
Critics say the policy has been a positive force but now needs to move beyond helping individual ethnic groups and stress our shared values of tolerance, the rule of law.
“In a society where there’s increased mixing, which is going to be the case particularly for the younger generation of Canadians, we’ll probably focus more on the individual and trying to ensure that that individual has a larger freedom to choose their lifestyle and culture without obstacles or discrimination or other barriers being put in their way of doing these things,” said Jack Jedwab, from the Association of Canadian Studies.
For some mixed-race people, it’s about getting beyond race completely or refusing to let yourself be defined by classic notions of race. Some say that what’s more important than race is gender, class, religion, language, location, occupation, age … that at any given time all these things are important in a range of ways.
Karen Suzuki lists the things that are more important to her than her racial history.
“One day I’m a filmmaker, one day I’m a martial artist, one day I’m an aunt, I’m always a daughter, a partner, and always a woman.”
“I think people get to do what they want,” said Paul Spickard, professor of anthropologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, who has written extensively on mixed-race issues.
“We live in a democracy and this is a place where individual freedom is one of our highest values. I think people ought to be allowed to define themselves as makes sense to them.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/mixedblessings/
A newfound planet orbits the wrong way
August 13, 2009
SPACE.com Jeanna Bryner And Robert Roy Britt
– Wed Aug 12, 11:21 am ETUpdated 11:05 a.m. ET
Planets orbit stars in the same direction that the stars rotate. They all do. Except one.
A newfound planet orbits the wrong way, backward compared to the rotation of its host star. Its discoverers think a near-collision may have created the retrograde orbit, as it is called.
The star and its planet, WASP-17, are about 1,000 light-years away. The setup was found by the UK’s Wide Area Search for Planets (WASP) project in collaboration with Geneva Observatory. The discovery was announced today but has not yet been published in a journal.
“I would have to say this is one of the strangest planets we know about,” said Sara Seager, an astrophysicist at MIT who was not involved in the discovery.
What’s going on
A star forms when a cloud of gas and dust collapses. Whatever movement the cloud had becomes intensified as it condenses, determining the rotational direction of the star. How planets form is less certain. They are, however, known to develop out of the leftover, typically disk-shaped mass of gas and dust that swirls around a newborn star, so whatever direction that material is moving, which is the direction of the star’s rotation, becomes the direction of the planet’s orbit.
WASP-17 likely had a close encounter with a larger planet, and the gravitational interaction acted like a slingshot to put WASP-17 on its odd course, the astronomers figure.
“I think it’s extremely exciting. It’s fascinating that we can study orbits of planets so far away,” Seager told SPACE.com. “There’s always theory, but there’s nothing like an observation to really prove it.”
Cosmic collisions are not uncommon. Earth’s moon was made when our planet collided with a Mars-sized object, astronomers think. And earlier this week NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence of two planets colliding around a distant, young star. Some moons in our solar system are on retrograde orbits, perhaps at least in some cases because they were flying through space alone and then captured; that’s thought to be the case with Neptune’s large moon Triton.
The find was made by graduate students David Anderson at Keele University and Amaury Triaud of the Geneva Observatory.
Bloated world
WASP-17 is about half the mass of Jupiter but bloated to twice its size. “This planet is only as dense as expanded polystyrene, 70 times less dense than the planet we’re standing on,” said professor Coel Hellier of Keele University.
The bloated planet can be explained by a highly elliptical orbit, which brings it close to the star and then far away. Like exaggerated tides on Earth, the tidal effects on WASP-17 heat and stretch the planet, the researchers suggest.
The tides are not a daily affair, however. “Instead it’s creating a huge amount of friction on the inside of the planet and generating a lot of energy, which might be making the planet big and puffy,” Seager said.
WASP-17 is the 17th extrasolar planet found by the WASP project, which monitors hundreds of thousands of stars, watching for small dips in their light when a planet transits in front of them. NASA’s Kepler space observatory is using the same technique to search for Earth-like worlds.
- Original Story: Newfound Planet Orbits Backward
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Michael Jackson: 5 Songs That Reflect His Genius
July 29, 2009
| Written by Kris Millett |
| Wednesday, 01 July 2009 |
| By the time you read this, you will probably be so oversaturated by Michael Jackson coverage that it will pain you to finish this sentence. I will try to spare you from unnecessary eulogizing. As I write this on the evening of his death, I feel nothing but a sense of shame – for this man will not get the opportunity to regain respectability as a musician and a person. It is also shameful that he will not bear witness to the inevitable public outpour of love that is sure to follow his passing, something that I feel would’ve happened in time anyway. And it is a shame that Michael Jackson passed away at what could arguably be considered his low point.
Jackson’s passing comes just as he was set to make a realistic bid for artistic redemption: a sold-out string of 50 shows slated for London’s O2 Arena starting in July, and a new album reportedly with the Black Eyed Peas’ Will.i.am collaborating to come (like him or not, Will.i.am has a unparalleled nose for chart success). Everything was unfolding according to my plan until this morning when Jackson collapsed in his rented mansion. So, until demos from the Will.i.am sessions inevitably surface, here are a few sometimes overlooked (but not unknown) songs that reflect the man’s genius: 1. “BEN” – Michael Jackson’s solo career was spawned at age 14 with this song paving the road for two decades of unprecedented success. Strip away the overblown 1972 production, and you hear the unique phrasing, melodic sense, and that iconic voice – steeped in R&B tradition, yet unmistakable. His singing at the key jump near the end is nothing short of exhilarating. Who cares if parts of it sound a bit like Eric Cartman?
2. “BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE” (w/ The Jacksons) – At the beginning, MJ flashes his pearly whites, and exclaims “eeee, hee-eeee!”. It’s 1978 and the boy has grown into a man. If you’ve worn out your copy of Off The Wall, here’s something else to sink your teeth into. It almost sounds like an extra track from Off The Wall — albeit cheesier –, setting a template for the groundbreaking work on that album. In my opinion, Michael never looked cooler than he did in this video, dated as it may be. If it wasn’t already obvious, the older brothers were just cluttering up the stage at this point. A full solo turn was inevitable.
3. “SAY SAY SAY” (feat. Paul McCartney) – This is a song I had avoided listening to until a few months ago. I had written the whole McCartney-Jackson compilation period off as tragedy. I like both artists, but the 1983 pairing of the 60s English pop songsmith with the Black American R&B sensation clashes as poorly as . . . well, let’s just say it clashes very badly. Fortunately, in “Say Say Say,” one only has to put up with roughly 30 seconds of insipid McCartney pop before Jacko steps in to rock your world. The 80s, Golden Earring-esque backbeat only sweetens the deal. That Jackson pre-chorus knocks me off my feet every time it appears. The hook is undeniable. Even Linda McCartney is bopping . . . This reminds me to tell you to NEVER to watch the video for it. I’ve included it below to test your willpower.
4. “THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL” – You know what I like? When an artist, at the peak of their popularity, comes out with their best material, and the whole world starts dancing. It rarely ever happens. It probably last happened when Eminem released “Without Me,” or anything released by Chris Gaines . . .Anyway, after Thriller sold 40 million copies in just 3 years, the pressure to deliver a follow-up must have been unimaginable. From that perspective, 1987’s Bad could be viewed as a disappointment. But it did spawn the perfect single, four other singles that went #1, and “Smooth Criminal,” which peaked at #7. The video for “The Way You Make Me Feel” may be the last one where Jackson looked relatively normal before he started to emotionally regress backwards in a reversed-Benjamin Button fashion.
5. “THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT US” – Beat me, hate me You can never break me Will me, thrill me You can never kill me Jew me, sue me Everybody do me Kick me, kike me Don’t you black or white me This song marks Michael Jackson’s final attempt to circumvent the media filter and tell it his way. This would prove futile, as the song’s lyrics were changed after people like Steven Spielberg found it offensive. Anti-Semitic concerns aside, this is the type of provocative song important artists are supposed to make. Its lyrics, along with 1991’s “Jam,” lead me to think that Michael Jackson had more of his marbles than we’re told to believe.
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said, “There are no second acts in American lives.” This may be true, and I was not under the assumption that the ‘Elvis Presley of the music video era’ could rescue the music industry again today. But I had hoped that, unlike Elvis, Michael Jackson would at least get the opportunity to age gracefully, to earn and be privy to the power of human forgiveness. Post script — Also be sure to check out his 2001 30th Anniversary Celebration concert and witness footage of Jackson giving his last great performances. culturemagazin.ca |
For years, I’ve been waiting for the moment in which the world would fall back in love with Michael Jackson. It seemed destined to happen. His disturbing childhood (or lack thereof) had become common knowledge due to endless news magazine specials and philosophizing TV psychologists, and we’ve come to accept that anyone who began in the entertainment business at age 6 is going to end up a little fucked up. There is no guidebook to handling stardom before puberty.
I mourn when I listen to “They Don’t Care About Us.” Nevertheless, it’s not really related to what transpired earlier today. For years, we have all longed for the return of the man who at least physically – due to a series of tragic accidents, illness, and bad operations – has not been with us for decades. After numerous public humiliations, we determined him to be a wacko and his music was never again given the chance to be credible. I always will mourn the loss of generational talents and transformative pop icons such as MJ – individuals that bring the whole world together.Truth About Bottled Water
July 22, 2009
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Imagine you’ve just been given a choice: You have to drink from one of two containers. One container is a cup from your own kitchen, and it contains a product that has passed strict state, federal and local guidelines for cleanliness and quality. Oh, and it’s free. The second container comes from a manufacturing plant somewhere, and its contents—while seemingly identical to your first choice—have not been subjected to the same strict national and local standards. It costs approximately four times more than gasoline. These products both look and taste nearly identical.
Which do you choose?
If you chose beverage A, congratulations: You just saved yourself a whole lot of money, and, perhaps, even contaminants, too. But if you picked beverage B, then you’ll be spending hundreds of unnecessary dollars on bottled water this year. Sure, bottled water is convenient, trendy, and may well be just as pure as what comes out of your tap. But it’s hardly a smart investment for your pocketbook, your body or our planet. Eat This, Not That! decided to take a closer look at what’s behind the pristine images and elegant-sounding names printed on those bottles.
You may actually be drinking tap water.
Case in point: Dasani, a Coca-Cola product. Despite its exotic-sounding name, Dasani is simply purified tap water that’s had minerals added back in. For example, if your Dasani water was bottled at the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Philadelphia, you’re drinking Philly tap water. But it’s not the only brand of water that relies on city pipes to provide its product. About 25 percent of all bottled water is taken from municipal water sources, including Pepsi’s Aquafina.
Bottled water isn’t always pure.
Scan the labels of the leading brands and you see variations on the words “pure” and “natural” and “pristine” over and over again. And when a Cornell University marketing class studied consumer perceptions of bottled water, they found that people thought it was cleaner, with less bacteria. But that may not actually be true. For example, in a 4-year review that included the testing of 1,000 bottles of water, the Natural Resources Defense Council—one the country’s most ardent environmental crusaders—found that “about 22 percent of the brands we tested contained, in at least one sample, chemical contaminants at levels above strict state health limits.”
It’s not clear where the plastic container ends and the drink begins.
Turns out, when certain plastics are heated at a high temperature, chemicals from the plastics may leach into container’s contents. So there’s been a flurry of speculation recently as to whether the amounts of these chemicals are actually harmful, and whether this is even a concern when it comes to water bottles—which aren’t likely to be placed in boiling water or even a microwave. While the jury is still out on realistic health ramifications, it seems that, yes, small amounts of chemicals from PET water bottles such as antimony—a semi-metal that’s thought to be toxic in large doses—can accumulate the longer bottled water is stored in a hot environment. Which, of course, is probably a good reason to avoid storing bottled water in your garage for six months—or better yet, to just reach for tap instead.
Our country’s high demand for oil isn’t just due to long commutes.
Most water bottles are composed of a plastic called polyethylene terepthalate (PET). Now, to make PET, you need crude oil. Specifically, 17 million barrels of oil are used in the production of PET water bottles ever year, estimate University of Louisville scientists. No wonder the per ounce cost of bottled water rivals that of gasoline. What’s more, 86 percent of 30 billion PET water bottles sold annually are tossed in the trash, instead of being recycled, according to data from the Container Recycling Institute. That’s a lot of waste—waste that will outlive you, your children, and your children’s children. You see, PET bottles take 400 to 1000 years to degrade. Which begs the question: If our current rate of consumption continues, where will we put all of this discarded plastic?
To learn the truth about diet soda, energy drinks and discover the best no-diet weight loss solutions on the planet, check out all of the eye-popping lists at eatthis.com. Also, sign up for your FREE Eat This Not That! newsletter and stay informed about the best choices for you and your family.
To lose your belly fast and get in shape for summer, try a downloadable workout here. And don’t miss the newest book in the Eat This, Not That! series: The Best (and Worst!) Foods in America!
And please share your nutrition and weight-loss tips and tricks with the rest of us.
happiest children in Europe live in Netherlands
June 23, 2009
The researchers focused on youngsters aged up to 19. They compared the 29 European countries and used 43 different criteria such as infant mortality, obesity, poverty and housing.
The study showed the happiest children lived in Netherlands, which scored high in all categories.
The Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland) came next. The researchers noted the children in these countries are less prone to risky behaviors such as early sexual intercourse, smoking and drinking, compared to their counterparts. They also had low level of children deaths caused by accidents.
Norway heads the list with the best housing and quality of neighborhoods, which is vital for raising children.
Germany finished eight, France finished 15th and Britain was ranked higher, only above countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta.
CPAG reported despite Britain being one of the leading economies in the world, they ranked lower because a high number of children were living in families where neither parent work.
CPAG chief executive Kate Green wants the government to include more measures for child well-being in the budget. She told AFP:
We cannot afford a ‘do nothing’ Budget for children. The report shows a clear link between high levels of child wellbeing and low levels of child poverty.
“If we fail to protect families during the downturn, progress on child wellbeing could go into reverse.
1. Netherlands
2. Sweden
3. Norway
4. Iceland
5. Finland
6. Denmark
7. Slovenia
8. Germany
9. Ireland
10. Luxembourg
11. Austria
12. Cyprus
13. Spain
14. Belgium
15. France
16. Czech Republic
17. Slovakia
18. Estonia
19. Italy
20. Poland
21. Portugal
22. Hungary
23. Greece
24. United Kingdom
25. Romania
26. Bulgaria
27. Latvia
28. Lithuania
29. Malta
