http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/572799
If one can be so inspired by his cultural heritage, even if it is passed down by an absent father, even if it is one that he may have shunned... who am I to sit on my derriere?
How can I dismiss the legacy of my people?
The 'audacity of our hope', the resilience of our spirits and the drumbeat of a brighter future that has pounded (through the years, on all continents) in our souls.]]> Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:24:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/572799 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/36581 "Iran's government is taking the country in the 'wrong direction,' repressing its own people and pursuing confrontation abroad, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Monday."

Hmm I wonder what other countries this very same statement could be applied to - any ideas out there anyone??]]> Mon, 13 Mar 2006 15:30:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/36581 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/36264 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 13:01:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/36264 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/36175 Fri, 03 Mar 2006 14:24:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/36175 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/36133


In response to a comment by the minister of Internal affairs about the consequences of rattling snakes; the following comment on BBC speaks better than I would have on the matter:

This government of self-declared snakes better beware. There is an electorate of mongooses waiting their chance to remove you. Once snakes have tasted the forbidden fruit of corrupt deals there is no going back. They need to be removed from the garden to a jail together with their henchmen in the police and civil service.

I sure hope that this will be true come the next election. There is a need for citizens to keep voting in elections- Let's work to trade in the leaders until there comes one for whom the shoe fits...
]]> Thu, 02 Mar 2006 16:17:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/36133 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/35979 I recently attended a Black History month gala event and as is usually the case it was wonderful. But there was one speech in particular that really spoke to me.

A group of people represented individuals involved with the civil rights movement as well as great leaders from the Caribbean and Africa. But there was this young man who stood up and gave a speech representing Malcolm X. Among tyhe many thought provoking things he said was:

"You know, it is good that we can come here every year and celebrate the great men and women of the past but we need to start to write some history ourselves; we need to make our mark so that future generations can stand up and talk about us and what we have done to contribute to the world, not just in Black communities but everywhere...
what Malcolm and Martin and Rosa and the rest of the 'movement' did was current for them and not history..."


Pretty powerful eh? Well, it certainly had me thinking that I was sitting in a room with people who would be known as members of the generation Malcolm neXt,

Smile
]]> Sun, 26 Feb 2006 16:36:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/35979 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/32475 WOW,
finally someone has said something about innovation not being synonymous with high cost and or high technology

...just when I was starting to decrease my levels of hope in the abilities of the "great minds" in the world to work towards sustainable solutions to the many problems facing the developing world I come across this article:

Simple solutions for complex health problems
By Edwin Colyer
Published: November 25 2005 02:00 | Last updated: November 25 2005 02:00

For many of the world's most pressing medical problems, innovation is about much more than technology. This is especially true in the developing world, where the fundamentals of basic healthcare are often lacking. As a result, innovation needs to be seen as more than developing new technologies. For example, in Africa, about 80 per cent of people use traditional healers for their primary healthcare. But just like anywhere else, improvement comes from innovation, albeit in a very different form. Maseno University in Kenya has spent the past two years engaging with traditional healers from around Lake Victoria. Under the guidance of university staff, the healers learn hygienic methods for preparing their remedies, and how to weigh and measure ingredients so their preparations are standardised - and their effects more predictable. They are encouraged to pack their medicines in bottles rather than old newspaper and to provide their patients with written prescriptions. They even learn the basics of keeping patient records. In Zimbabwe, meanwhile, rural communities have been transformed with some very simple technology: a motorcycle and sidecar. Developed by UK charity Riders for Health, the Uhuru (Swahili for "freedom") is a lightweight and extremely robust vehicle, designed to cope with the rough terrain. It can carry a stretcher or a pop-up seat and is ideal for ferrying urgent cases to health centres which can be more than 20km away. The Uhuru has saved the lives of people with snakebites, bee stings and women with complications in labour. Danish company Vestergaard Frandsen has developed the LifeStraw, a device that purifies water as you sip. The straw filters bacteria that cause waterborne illnesses, such as typhoid and diarrhoea, thus making it possible to drink water directly from a polluted lake or river. At the same time, many developing countries still aspire to build up their technological inventiveness. Brazil, for example, has an impressive pharmaceutical manufacturing base and Cuba has developed a vaccine for meningitis B. But how do you foster this kind of healthcare innovation? According to a group of 26 global health professionals, the secret lies in networking. Writing in the journal Science, they argue for networks to promote "policy research, local innovation, South-to-South learning, and information sharing.... More frequent robust exchanges of know-how among an expanding universe of public- and private-sector players would accelerate innovation and expedite the translation of knowledge..." A variety of networks already exist, such as the Developing Country Vaccine Manufacturers' Network and the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum. In addition, there are many North-South partnerships that also aim to build up the developing world's capacity for research and innovation. The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) is a particularly novel structure. It was created two years ago following numerous reports and the G8 emphasis on the burden of HIV, malaria and tuberculosis on the economic growth and welfare of African countries. "EDCTP has a unique model of partnership," explains executive director Odile Leroy. "First, 15 European states used Article 169 of the EC Treaty to join forces. Moreover, our African partners design EDCTP's scientific strategy. They analyse the medical needs of African nations and this is what drives our work." The main aim of EDCTP is to build Africa's capacity for conducting clinical trials. It provides grants for networking and for training African scientists in clinical trial methodology. It also supports the cost of pre- and post-registration trials of drugs in Africa. "Most of the research and product development for [HIV, malaria and tuberculosis] are now done by public-private partnerships," Dr Leroy explains, "but clinical trials are expensive. By supporting the clinical trials, EDCTP helps to lower the overall cost of RD, thus making the drugs more affordable and accessible to the countries that need them most." EDCTP is not just supporting the development of new drugs, however. One of the clinical trials already under way, for example, is looking at HIV treatments for children in Zambia, particularly how to adapt standard treatment protocols to make them easier for children to follow. Another trial (with an already-approved malaria drug) will identify how government policies could be changed to slow down the development of resistance to anti- malarial compounds. More basic research is looking at how to simplify HIV diagnostics so they are better suited to African environments. "EDCTP is addressing the needs of African countries," states Dr Leroy. "We are investing in and building up Africa's expertise and skills in clinical trials. Everything from the design of clinical trials to the final reporting should be coming from African teams." Just as EDCTP focuses on clinical trials, the Centre for the Management of Intellectual Property in Health Research and Development (MIHR), a UK-based non-profit organisation, hopes to improve IP management in developing countries. "For middle-income countries, our training in technology management practices is geared at assisting the commercialisation of local innovation," says Robert Eiss, MIHR's chief executive officer. "In low-income countries, our major concern is enabling laboratories to negotiate with research partners on equal terms. We are hoping to contribute to a cadre of strong technology transfer managers. "Technology transfer is not really a discipline or profession in these countries. Negotiating North-South contracts or with public-private partnerships is still an emerging skill set." Through workshops and a "best practice" manual, MIHR helps the growing number of technology transfer officers in developing countries to push for retention rights, volume deals and to optimise the public and social benefits from their contracts. But the likes of MIHR are small and even the EDCTP, with its ú600m budget, can only have a limited impact. CPTech, a US-based NGO, proposes something far more reaching: an international medical RD treaty. It flies in the face of current patent legislation (which provides monopoly rights to the holder to reward innovation). Modelled on the Kyoto protocol on climate change, the treaty would oblige signatories to invest a certain percentage of GDP in globally relevant medical research. The results, and any ensuing inventions, would be openly accessible. A tradable credit system would enable countries to meet their requirements. In February, CPTech sent a letter to the World Health Organisation Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health (CIPIH), asking it to consider the treaty. Signed by an array of MEPs, IP specialists, drug researchers and charity representatives, the letter argued that "a growing web of... trade agreements and policies focus nearly exclusively on measures that expand the scope and power of intellectual property rights, or reduce the effectiveness of price negotiations or controls". Stronger intellectual property rights and high drug prices do create incentives to invest in medical innovation, the letter continued, but they impose costs, too. These include problems of access to medicine and "scant investment in treatments for the poor, basic research or public goods". The proposed treaty is certainly a radical way to make medical RD more accessible to developing countries. But would the RD be any more relevant to these countries than it is today? After all, if healthcare in the developing world still relies on medicine men and the Uhuru, perhaps the greatest innovations will need to take these types of low-tech solutions into account.

for more on the article:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/075f0076-5d8a-11da-be9c-0000779e2340.html
]]> Sun, 27 Nov 2005 19:52:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/32475 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/22200
we remember and validate our anger, justify our hatred and put a name to our "hang-ups" about living while black.

But then after this we should make the choice to let it go forget) because all of this negativity can only just drag us further down into whatever pit we may feel we are in.

"Forget" does not mean 'erase from memory' for me; it means 'set aside' so that the "bile" does not become a crutch for present and future stagnation. It means set aside and become what you dream you can be- despite your obstacles. It means live life to the fullest that you can, all that you want, as you please.

Every day is a day to Celebrate!!!!!! ]]> Mon, 07 Feb 2005 18:48:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/22200 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/21645 Tue, 11 Jan 2005 17:49:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/21645 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/21588
While I cannot pretend to even begin to have an understanding of what these individuals went through and I do not seek to minize the extent and effects of the atrocities they faced. I am wondering whether our time will not be better spent working on the good that we have been able to achieve in terms of the unity of the world as we all come together to support the victims of the Tsunami?

For how long will some of us focus on the bad and neglect to celebrate the good that we can do when we put our collective minds to it?

I wonder....]]> Sun, 09 Jan 2005 21:00:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/21588 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/21385 more awareness about various social issues among the youth than I am looking forward to a new year and the hope that the future brings, happy holidays everyone, see you all next year!!]]> Tue, 28 Dec 2004 07:40:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/21385 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/21097 Sun, 12 Dec 2004 18:46:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/21097 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/20933 amidst chants of hey hey ho ho "George Bush has got to go!!" And "drop bush not bombs" I felt very good in the peace rally that marched down Barrington street in Halifax in protest of the war in Iraq and other policies put in place by the Bush administration that undermined freedom and civil liberties...

It felt good doing something more involved than sitting in front of the television and wagging my fingers or ranting in anger at the current state of events.

Thank you fellow marchers- who coincidentally came from all nationalities ages and walks of life- for restorign my faith in humanity
(at least temporarily) smirk
Have a good day all
me
PS will have pics to upload asap some of the posters were amusing...]]> Wed, 01 Dec 2004 18:06:00 EST http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/20933 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/17654
It was one of those inspiring... "in case you forgot your worth" type of articles but I like those a lot whether I am down or up or even just kinda lateral.

They key pieces of advice were:

create your own expectations ( follow your own road map for the journey that is this life)

be real (everyone makes mistakes what matters is whether or not, when and how we choose to bounce back from them)

stop with the negativity (both self-talk and self-sabotage as well as character assassination of friends enemies and/or strangers)

don't let your backbone slip: so you know what you are about what you want and how you are going to get to the point when you have realized your dreams? well good for you now just don't forget to put in the work and effort that is necessary for this success... I liked this part a lot , smile.

have faith: I suppose in you, God, the realization of your dreams this helps you give to life what can only be your unique contribution to the development of a positive environment. But then comes my best part of the whole article, the author said that we should " ...mine our own uniqe gifts" I thought this was awesome because---> hey miners only mine precious commodities or in other words, our uniqe gifts are our very own gems , precious jewels that after we mine we should treat accordingly.... well, gonna think on this some more. I could definitely take this thought process somewhere higher/deeper that's for sure!!! gonna have a great rest of my day
WOOHoo!!!!!]]> Thu, 24 Jun 2004 15:36:00 EDT http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/17654 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/17391 it blows and nobody knows what it will do
but no matter what
it is there;

although we cannot see it or touch it we can feel it and we can see what it does.

" The less we try to be the more we become,...hmmm?!"]]> Sun, 13 Jun 2004 19:16:00 EDT http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/17391 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/17249
Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach." ~ Aristotle
"The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely." ~ Lorraine Hansberry
Life is itself a terminal condition- P Simmons
]]> Tue, 08 Jun 2004 15:30:00 EDT http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/17249 http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/17247 The day was great I underestimated my friends and fortunately they disappointed me and gave me the best memories I have had from a birthday of mine
good stuff for sure]]> Tue, 08 Jun 2004 12:16:00 EDT http://fauxhawk.tigblog.org/post/17247