Our laptops are green

And I’m in wi-fi heaven

Tags:

Nigeria
$100 Laptop
South Africa

Hash (White African) took the challenge and and as always came up with the goods in this case an excellent graphic of Africa’s Web 2.0 sites.

Clicking on the collage will take you to Hash Flickr site where each logo is linked to it’s website.

More innovation comes from African Path who will be launching a “dedicated business section” covering African Business and Technology news - The Cheetah Index. The site is currently in a beta version and will be formally launched on 26th November.

As part of our mission to fill the void left by conventional media in covering African issues, African Path will take an active role in supporting and empowering the continent’s young and progressive decision makers. Today, African Path announces the launch of a dedicated business section under the African Path network which will be branded as the Cheetah Index.

African Path will build the Cheetah Index into a leading online resource for Africa ’s current generation of decision makers. These will include managers, entrepreneurs, government officials, educationalist and other people who influence Africa ’s development. The site will provide breaking business news, profiles on African entrepreneurs and industry news while making it easier for business people from Africa and other continents to connect and network.

Tags:

Africa
Web 2.0
Technology
Business

* Red Day - Speak out against violence against women of colour.

Red is the color of courage, of embarrassment, of indiscretion, and of blood. On days that aren’t today, people emphasize the latter three qualities more than the former quality. Courage.

It takes courage to speak out against violence in the face of intimidation and centuries of being undervalued. Red is the color of courage, of ownership of sexuality, of beautiful faces when screaming at the top of their lungs that they’re human.

Also over at Document the Silence

* Haiti Action reports that another Lavalas activist has now disappeared. Dr Maryse Narcisse was kidnapped at gun point in front of her home last Saturday. She is now the second Lavalas activist to have disappeared in the past three months. On August 12th Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine disappeared and has not been seen since.

Dr. Narcisse holds an impressive resume as an advocate for healthcare and human rights for Haiti’s poor majority. Following the brutal military coup against Aristide in 1991, she courageously assembled a team of community-based providers in one of Haiti’s largest regions and assisted them in developing HIV/AIDS prevention interventions. Dr. Narcisse was also the national coordinator of the Expanded Immunization Program (EPI), director for Education and Development of Human Resources, and General Director for the Ministry of Health during Aristide’s last administration. In her capacity as General Director for the Ministry of Health, she oversaw the development and implementation of national health policies. In her role as Minister-Counselor at the Permanent Mission of Haiti to the UN, the focus of her work was on social affairs including education, health, gender issues and human rights.

* New Scientist traces wo/mans journey out of Africa (subscribers only online)

Before Nike and Macdonalds Homo sapiens branded and conquered the world, from frozen artic ice to blazing deserts and green forests. After staying in Africa for 10s of thousands of years [200,000 to 150,000] around 80,000 years ago there was a huge population explosion which led to people finally moving out of Africa. First to Asia and Australia, then to Europe and finally about 20,000 years ago to the Americas. A fascinating piece on the journey of wo(man) based on archaeological finds and DNA genetic material scientists have come up with two possible routes of migration. Having said that, I am very wary of any scientific findings which as we all know have been used to underpin all sorts of social constructs and origins of disease such as the following one on the origin of AIDS in the US

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The AIDS virus invaded the United States in about 1969 from Haiti, carried most likely by a single infected immigrant who set the stage for it to sweep the world in a tragic epidemic, scientists said on Monday.

Michael Worobey, a University of Arizona evolutionary biologist, said the 1969 U.S. entry date is earlier than some experts had believed.

The timeline laid out in the study led by Worobey indicates that HIV infections were occurring in the United States for roughly 12 years before AIDS was first recognized by scientists as a disease in 1981. Many people had died by that point.

“It is somehow chilling to know it was probably circulating for so long under our noses,” Worobey said in a telephone interview.

The researchers conducted a genetic analysis of stored blood samples from early AIDS patients to determine when the human immunodeficiency virus first entered the United States.

In short, one Haitian immigrant sometime in 1969 is responsible for the the spread of the AIDs virus in the United States - and how did it get to Haiti - well yes guess where from? Leslie Flemming of Haiti Action has responded to the report broadcast on a Bay area CBS affiliated station

Dear Mr. Rosenheim:

Your newscast Monday night (October 29), and your website today (October 30)
featured a segment “New Research Traces U.S. AIDS Epidemic to Haiti,” with
Manuel Ramos credited on the website and Dana King reporting on television.
Neither the newscast nor the website elaborate on the evidence for this
dangerous claim. Instead, the report features “Patient Zero” and previous
information about how it had been previously believed that he spread the
AIDS virus in the U.S. Only two sentences mention Haiti in the 3-4 minute
televised report, and both sentences are entirely unsupported. The
statement at the top of the televised report and on your website
“Researchers have traced the start of AIDS in the U.S. To Haiti back to the
1960s, years before it became an epidemic” taints an entire country, yet
again, virtually no evidence is provided–not even the origin or the names
of the author(s) of the claim. How is this good journalism?

The highly respected, internationally acclaimed American Medical
Association’s Outstanding International Physician (2002) Dr. Paul Farmer
long ago thoroughly discredited the myth that AIDS came to the United States
from Haiti. In his book “AIDS and Accusation,” (first published in 1992,
with a new edition in 2006), Dr. Farmer shows how the Haitian AIDS epidemic
was brought to Haiti by North American tourists. Farmer’s book is used in
anthropology courses in universities and in medical school curricula across
the country and internationally.

Haitians have been unfairly stigmatized in the past. It saddens me that
your irresponsible reporting continues that practice.

Leslie Fleming

Some Techi links:

* Check out Afrosphere’s Pageflakes 8 flakes covering Black history, entertainment, fashion, books, politics and news.

* Ken Banks, Founder, kiwanja.net has started a new group on FaceBook - FrontlineSMS Supporters Group with the aim of building up a network of supporters who can pass on the message of Frontline and Mobile Technology

The FrontlineSMS software is free to all non-profits, whoever they are and wherever they operate
Positions:

1. Mobile technology has the potential to revolutionise the work of grassroots NGOs in developing countries
2. Not all non-profits are yet reaping the benefit of this revolution
3. FrontlineSMS has the proven potential to bridge this gap

Social networking sites are popping up all over the place ever since the new Ning “Create your own social network” was set up. There is the “Black Women in Europe” network and now “Women of the African Diaspora”; “African American Opinion Blog Network”, “News Junkies”, “On Road Media”and probably hundreds more! Enough no more social network invites please please!

Tags:

Haiti
USA
AIDS
Africa
Rape
Violence against women

For Koranteng’s collection -

“I AMMM A PLASTIC BAG”

ADDICTIONS


Someone I know (I have to say it like that so he won’t get identified even while remaining nameless) has confessed to being obsessed and addicted to Face Book. He has now taken to blaming me for introducing him to this addiction. It’s OK, I forgive him. Is it just me or does everyone remember who introduced them to this hyper reality, Where nothing is real from causes to gifts to zombie eating chumps, bumps and where we narrate our daily lives from waking to sleeping!

My FB is full of people I dont really know - in fact I have only met about 20 people out of the whole list and only 8 of those are people I really know including the 4 who are my relatives - who needs flesh and blood when you have Face Book? Maybe not REALLY knowing someone - I mean in real life, really, (the lines are becoming blurry) knowing who the heck you are bumping and munching is part of the buzz and addiction. But it can be a bit scary when someone you don’t know adds you to their “friends” and you ask “Do I know you” and they respond “yea - u know we met on U St and 14th in Don’s Original Chilli House last Monday lunch - I remembered your name because its unusual” - Bloody hell! my name is now Sade - or rather Shadey for our American friends before you all start calling me sade as in the Marques.

More flaky reality can be found at the newly revamped Page Flakes - create hundreds of pages - create pagecasts such as Afrosphere, created by Bronze Trinity). Join flaky communities, stop cooking and read recipes instead, stop reading books and read RSS feeds, stop talking and let your keyboard do the walking - oh yes don’t forget to get your kids, partners, friends, parents, on the programme so they won’t start bugging you to get a real life or worse go out and meet real people!

LIFE IN A FISH BOWL OF SOCIAL NETWORKS

Tags:
Face Book;
Page Flakes

Student to professor

Did you hear about the pollution caused by the recent live earth concerts? Apparently it will take something like 100,000 trees to undo the emissions produced. The irony would be hilarious if it weren’t killing us.

Professor to anyone on blog

………………………….obserdrival culminating in

And so, those struggling against pollution and exploitation and so on cannot prioritize concerns of personal purity or hypocrisy over concerns with concrete progressive outcomes except at the cost of those outcomes, while those who benefit from pollution and exploitation will always be tempted to prioritize questions of the appearance of hypocrisy precisely to maintain the outcome of incumbent privilege, whatever the costs.

Seriously he does have a point and I do like this blog because, despite making me feel intellectually challenged, there is always a little gem somewhere and here’s one for today: Open Moko - Open Source Mobile Phone. Here’s hoping it’s earth friendly and yes “how the hell are they supposed to get there?”.

Tags: Live Earth; Climate Change; Open Source; Mobile Phone;